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MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH 

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e. 


M.  L’Abbé  G.  Chardon,  Vicar -  General  of  Clermont , 

Author  of  the  Memoirs  of  a  Guardian  Angel. 


BALTIMORE: 

PUBLISHED  BY  JOHN  MURPHY  &  CO., 

Printers  to  His  Holiness  the  Pope. 

1888. 


boston  college  library 

CHESTNUT  HILL.  MASS. 


é 


Copyright,  1888. 

By  John  Murphy  &  Co. 
AU  rights  reserved. 


PREFACE  OF  THE  TRANSLATOR. 


A  number  of  years  ago  the  writer  was  asked  to  under¬ 
take  the  translation  of  the  “  Memoirs  of  a  Guardian 
Angel,”  of  the  author  of  the  present  work.  The  success 
which  attended  the  translation  showed  that  M.  Chardon 
had  touched  responsive  chords  in  the  Catholic  heart  here 
as  he  had  done  elsewhere,  for  his  edifying  and  instruc¬ 
tive  hook  had  found  many  readers  of  various  tongues  in 
Europe.  His  desire  to  do  good  yet  further,  in  the 
Church  in  the  United  States,  caused  him  to  send  the 
writer  a  copy  of  his  new  work.  The  reception  of  the 
volumes  at  once  suggested  further  cooperation  in  the 
efforts  of  the  worthy  and  able  Vicar-General  of  Clermont, 
and  this  translation,  under  great  difficulties,  has  been 
finally  completed,  in  the  ardent  hope  that  devotion  to  the 
Angels,  our  future  companions  for  eternity,  may  be  more 
a  part  of  our  daily  life,  that  we  may  establish  with  them 
“friendships  ”*  destined  to  last  forever,  after  benefiting, 
protecting,  and  elevating  us  here  below. 

Again  M.  Chardon  has  met  the  need  of  the  hour.  His 
book  is  a  collection  of  all  that  is  known,  or  conjectured, 
on  good  grounds,  by  the  wisest  and  holiest  of  the  great 
teachers  of  the  church;  among  them  St.  Augustin,  St. 
Thomas  off  Aquin,  and  Suarez.  It  is  therefore  a  valuable 
theological  work,  and  full  of  Catholic  philosophy  and 
metaphysics,  in  a  most  natural  form  and  easy  to  compre- 

*  St.  Leo. 

(iii) 


IV 


PREFACE  OF  THE  TRANSLATOR. 


hend.  Coming  as  it  does  at  a  period  when  those  outside 
the  Church  are  delving  in  such  matters,  often  most  un¬ 
wisely,  and  at  the  moment  our  Most  Holy  Father,  Pope 
Leo  XIII  has  ordered  all  the  priests  of  the  Church  to 
invoke  daily,  with  the  people,  the  intercession  of  St. 
Michael  the  Archangel,  and  Protector  of  the  Church, 
Catholics  everywhere  should  look  upon  the  present  vol¬ 
umes  as  of  great  importance  and  usefulness.  That  they 
are  so,  the  writer  is  convinced,  and  he  is  therefore  happy 
to  have  been  able  to  give  his  time  and  labor  to  present 
them  in  this  English  version,  to  the  honor  of  the  holy 
Angels,  and  for  the  welfare  of  our  Catholic  people. 

Indianapolis,  Ind.,  February  1st,  1887 . 


APPROBATION. 


LETTER  OF  MONSEIGNEUR  THE  BISHOP  OF  CLERMONT  TO 

THE  AUTHOR. 

Bishopric  of  Clermont. 
Clermont,  January  8th,  1886. 
Dear  V.  Rev'd  Vicar- General  : 

I  have  read  with  the  most  lively  interest  your  new 
work,  “  which  epitomizes  the  divine  revelations  regarding 
the  angels,”  and  which  is  entitled:  Memoirs  of  a  Seraph. 

Very  many  Christians  possess  on  this  important  part  of 
revelation  but  very  incomplete  notions.  For  this  reason 
I  praise  you  highly,  Dear  and  Rev’d  Sir,  for  having 
thought  of  writing  a  book  useful  in  collecting  the  summa 
of  the  teachings  of  Catholic  doctrine  on  the  blessed  spirits 
whom  God  has  constituted  the  ministers  of  His  Providence 
with  men  and  over  the  world,  and  I  felicitate  you  from 
my  heart  for  having  known  how  to  realize  the  idea  in  so 
perfect  a  manner. 

In  these  concise,  substantial  pages,  where,  like  an  in¬ 
dustrious  bee,  you  have  gathered,  as  in  a  precious  hive, 
all  that  Theology,  Holy  Writ,  the  Fathers  and  the  Doc¬ 
tors  of  the  Church  have  said  of  the  origin,  of  the  nature, 
of  the  hierarchy,  of  the  mission  of  the  angels,  one  sees 
shine  forth  the  beauty  of  what  St.  Denis,  the  Areopagite 
— one  of  “the  holy  and  luminous  geniuses”  you  have 
taken  for  guides — so  gracefully  calls  the  likeness  of  the 
divine  beauty  :  “  The  angel  is  the  image  of  God,  the  clear 
mirror  on  which  he  receives  the  whole  beauty,  if  it  be  law- 

(v) 


VI 


APPROBATION'. 


fui  so  to  speak,  of  the  divine  goodness,”  (De  Divin. No¬ 
minibus,  c.  4,)  an  admirable  definition  of  which  your 
book  is  the  magnificent  development. 

Under  the  ingenious  form  of  a  recital  which  ranges 
“from  the  dawn  of  time  by  creation  to  its  close  by  the 
last  judgment,”  you  tell,  or  rather  a  seraph  recounts  in 
his  memoirs,  all  “it  is  actually  possible  for  us  to  know 
of  the  angels.” 

Already,  some  years  since,  you  have  given  in  this 
form  the  Memoirs  of  a  Guardian  Angel  ;  and,  when  that 
book  appeared,  it  was  asked  whether  it  had  not  been 
written  at  the  dictation  of  an  angel.  It  was  translated 
forthwith  into  the  principal  languages  of  Europe. 

To-day,  one  would  say  that  the  brilliant  seraph  who 
dictated  his  memoirs,  must  have  put  in  your  hand  “a 
pen  fallen  from  his  wing,  and  dipped  in  his  heart.”  And 
believers  of  all  nations  will  contend  for  the  reading,  so 
attractive,  of  these  pages,  at  once  “solid  and  full  of 
grace.” 

This  is  my  most  ardent  wish  ! 

Therefore,  Dear  Very  Reverend  Sir,  I  not  only  au-' 
thorize  the  printing  of  your  new  work,  but  I  formally 
express  the  desire  that  nothing  be  neglected  to  secure 
for  this  beautiful  book  the  most  speedy  and  widest  pub¬ 
licity,  that  it  may  go  carry  to  all  hearts  the  undying 
hope  which  consoles  the  sadness  of  this  world  by  teach¬ 
ing  tffat,  “the  angels  are  our  future  fellow-citizens,”  be¬ 
cause,  “our  place  is  among  them.” 

Accept,  Dear  Very  Reverend  Vicar  General,  every 
expression  of  affectionate  devotion  in  our  Lord. 

*  J,  PIERRE, 

Bishop  of  Clermont. 


MEMOIRS  OF  À  SERAPH. 


The  Memoirs  of  a  Seraph  resume,  in  the  form  of  a 
narrative,  the  divine  revelations  regarding  the  angels. 
We  do  for  the  angels  in  general,  what  we  have  done  for 
one  order  in  particular,  in  the  Memoirs  of  a  Guardian 
Angel.  s 

The  success  of  our  first  work,  translated  into  several 
languages,  has  been  an  encouragement  for  us.  Our  new 
undertaking,  embracing  a  subject  of  greater  extent,  will 
fill  a  vaster  perspective.  The  Memoirs  of  a  Guardian 
Angel  will  be  but  an  episode  of  it. 

I. 

God  has  multiplied  revelations  to  make  the  angels 
known.  On  every  page  the  Scriptures  speak  of  them. 
They  present  their  apparitions,  reproduce  their  words, 
tell  of  what  they  did,  recall  their  good  offices,  extol  their 
ministry. 

It  is  true  these  notions  are  scattered  ;  we  do  not  find 
them  collected  together  in  any  one  place  of  Holy  Writ 
whatsoever  concerns  the  pure  spirits.  They  are  docu¬ 
ments,  not  a  body  of  doctrine  ;  detached  facts,  not  a  con¬ 
tinuous  history;  materials,  not  an  edifice.  But  to  dis¬ 
cern,  gather,  bring  to  light  such  rich  data,  to  form  an 
harmonious  whole  of  wide  and  certain  knowledge,  we 
have  precious  aids  ;  the  men  on  whose  brows  shone  a  ray 
from  above,  and  whom  the  Church  calls  her  Doctors  and 
her  Fathers. 

(vii) 


i 


Vlll 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


By  their  daily  meditations,  the  Fathers  and  Doctors 
of  the  Church  have  established  their  dwelling  on  celestial 
heights;  they  have  visited  the  regions  of  grace,  and 
caught  a  glimpse  of  those  of  glory  ;  they  have  conversed 
with  the  angels,  and  shared  their  light. 

Knowing  to  its  depth  tradition  and  Scripture,  and  in¬ 
terpreting  the  one  by  the  other  ;  bringing  together  proofs 
that  come  from  God,  and  comparing  them  with  each  other 
with  a  tact  born  of  sanctity  ;  clearing  up  doubtful  ques¬ 
tions  by  incontestable  arguments,  and  penetrating  to  the 
very  source  of  revealed  truth,  they  have  reached  conclu¬ 
sions  which  ought  to  he  for  us  so  many  new  revelations. 

Let  us  add,  that  in  their  excursions,  and  during  their 
sojourn  among  the  angels,  they  received  supernatural  aid 
in  abundance,  and  found  themselves  marvellously  fitted  to 
seize  the  characteristics  of  these  pure  spirits,  whom  they 
equalled  or  perhaps  surpassed  in  devotion  and  love. 

Led  in  our  researches  by  these  saints  and  luminous  in¬ 
tellects,  known  by  the  names  of  Denis,  Athanasius, 
Jerome,  Ambrose,  Augustin,  Chrysostom,  Basil,  Greg¬ 
ory  Nazianzen,  Gregory  the  Great,  Bernard,  Thomas, 
Suarez,  Lessius,  and  so  many  others,  we  have  been  able 
to  proceed  with  confidence,  knowing  through  our  Mother, 
the  Infallible  Spouse  of  Christ,  that,  following  them, the 
footing  is  sure. 

II. 

Having  amassed  our  treasure  of  doctrine,  there  re¬ 
mained  the  difficult  task  of  giving  it  life,  and  an  att  'ac¬ 
tive  form.  This  form  could  not  be  that  of  a  simple  trea¬ 
tise.  St.  Thomas  has  written  a  work  on  the  angels,  which 
of  itself  would  have  twice  merited  for  him  the  title  of  An- 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


IX 


gelic  Doctor.  Suarez,  in  whom,  as  Bossuet  says,  one 
hears  the  whole  school,  has  given,  with  evident  pleasure 
to  himself,  a  treatise  yet  fuller,  in  which  the  matter 
seems  exhausted. 

Now  who  would  dare  to  present  to  so  many  other 
souls  not  less  eager  to  have  supernatural  truth,  these  two 
works,  the  delight  of  those  versed  in  theological  science, 
but  closed  to  them  by  reason  of  their  scholastic  language  ? 

The  form  we  have  adopted  is  that  of  a  narrative.  A 
seraph  tells,  in  these  memoirs,  what  we  are  at  present  per¬ 
mitted  to  know  about  the  angels.  This  narrative  runs 
from  the  beginning  of  time,  by  creation,  to  its  close,  by 
the  last  judgment.  It  is  full  of  the  sentiments  inspired 
in  this  heavenly  spirit  by  the  facts  he  recalls,  and  it  could 
be  looked  on  as  the  representation  of  his  impressions. 

Wishing  to  edify  while  instructing,  we  had  only  to 
avoid  making  our  subject  unnatural.  Everything  in  it  is 
of  itself  so  full  of  expression.  The  history  of  the  angels 
from  beginning  to  end  is  but  a  beautiful  and  touching  les¬ 
son.  Under  a  new  light,  it  is  the  mirror  of  the  belief 
and  duties  of  man. 

The  constant  struggle,  or  rather  the  constant  harmony 
of  the  justice  and  of  the  goodness  of  God,  forms  as  it 
were,  a  grandiose  and  ravishing  vista,  in  which  are  dis¬ 
played  the  most  affecting  scenes,  embracing  the  duration 
of  the  world. 

Good  and  evil  are  face  to  face,  and  in  combat;  but 
they  are  distinguished  by  such  evident  signs,  that  we 
shall  never  be  in  danger  of  confounding  the  one  with  the 
other,  of  taking  defects  for  qualities,  vices  for  virtues, 
shameful  crimes  for  honorable  actions. 


X  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

III. 

A  hundred  times  the  exigencies  of  the  ideal  which  we 
had  conceived,  with  its  beauty  and  its  poesy,  its  magni¬ 
ficence  and  its  variety,  made  the  pen  fall  from  our  hand  ; 
as  often  an  irresistible  attraction  made  us  take  it  up 
again. 

Our  mistrust  and  our  fears  have  not  been  able  to  with¬ 
draw  us  from  the  charms  of  our  first  idea.  It  took  pos¬ 
session  of  us  from  the  outset,  not  to  leave  us  free  any 
more  ;  it  has  imposed  itself  upon  us. 

An  angel  appearing  one  day  to  a  saint,  presented  her 
a  pen  of  gold,  and  bade  her  write  while  he  dictated.* 

A  pen  of  gold,  also — more  than  that,  a  pen  fallen  from 
the  wing  of  a  seraph  and  dipped  in  his  heart,  would  have 
been  needed  to  trace  here  lines  worthy  of  our  subject. 

When  profane  poets  wished  to  have  men  accept  their 
inventions  and  dreams,  they  invoked  the  Muses,  asked  of 
them  the  sacred  fire,  solicited  revelations. 

Aspiring  to  make  shine  in  souls  truths  more  interesting 
and  more  beautiful  than  the  creations  of  human  genius, 
we  have  invoked  not  imaginary  and  deceitful  divinities, 
but  those  sublime  spirits  whose  history  we  are  about  to 
recount. 

Do  you  wish,  dear  reader,  to  go  through  with  fruit 
the  Memoirs  of  a  Seraph ?  Salute  first  your  good  an¬ 
gel,  and  ask  him  to  help  you  conceive  those  grand  scenes 
of  the  life  above,  of  which  he  was  a  witness,  and  in  which 
he  took  part. 

Under  his  eye,  erect  at  his  side,  clinging  to  his  hand, 


*  “  Veronica  wrote  the  book  spoken  of  with  a  golden  pen  brought  by  an  angel.” 
(. Life  of  St.  Veronica  of  Milan,  by  Isidore  Isolanus.  Bollandists.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


xi 


you  will  feel  confidence  give  your  heart  wings  to  fly  far 
from  this  world,  to  go  mingle,  by  faith,  with  the  choirs  of 
happy  spirits. 

Could  we  forge:  it?  the  angels  are  our  future  fellow- 
citizens  ;  the  bosom  of  God  is  our  home,  as  it  is  theirs  ; 
our  place  is  among  them. 

Yes,  it  is  granted  to  the  grain  of  dust  to  one  day  go 
shine  among  the  suns  in  the  firmament  of  eternity.  To 
it,  as  to  them,  to  sing  the  immortal  praise  of  the  all-lov¬ 
ing  Creator  of  angels  and  of  men. 

IY. 

The  plan  and  division  of  these  memoirs  is  simple.  We 
have  placed  in  view  first,  in  four  books,  subdivided  into 
numerous  paragraphs,  the  outpourings  of  divine  goodness 
in  the  angels  by  nature,  by  grace,  by  glory  and  by  mis¬ 
sions  given  them. 

Then,  in  four  other  books,  the  sequel  and  complement 
of  the  preceding,  we  have  given  the  relations  of  the  an¬ 
gels  with  the  Word  Incarnate,  with  His  Mother,  with 
men,  and  with  the  material  world. 

Each  idea  thus  finding  at  once  its  natural  place,  it  has 
seemed  to  us  that  the  way  in  which  our  subject-matter  is 
arranged  is  good. 

We  have  reproduced  neither  the  dissertations  nor  the 
controversies  of  authors;  we  confined  ourselves  to  gath¬ 
ering  their  conclusions  to  weave  the  web  of  our  recital. 

We  have  thought  it  incumbent  on  us  to  indicate  the 
numerous  sources  whence  we  drew,  and  cite  the  import¬ 
ant  passages  which  we  have  put  under  contribution. 

Some  friends  of  the  angels  will  see  in  these  names  of 
authors,  in  these  titles  of.  works,  in  these  Latin  texts,  only 


Xll 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


a  subject  of  disagreeble  distraction.  Others  will  see  in 
them  an  imposing  assemblage  of  witnesses,  giving  to  the 
Memoirs  of  a  Seraph ,  their  historic  value  and  doctrinal 
safety. 


4» 


PROLOGUE. 


I  AM  a  pure  spirit.  I  belong  to  the  choir  of  the  Sera¬ 
phim,  the  organs  of  love  divine.  I  am  going  to  tell  of 
the  wonders  done  in  my  brethren  and  in  myself  by  the 
Most  High.  This  shall  be  the  sweetest  expression  of  my 
gratitude,  my  most  beautiful  hymn  to  His  glory. 

Could  a  God  be  better  praised  and  glorified  than  by 
His  works  ? 

It  is  to  men  that  I  wish  to  make  known  the  outpour¬ 
ings  of  divine  goodness  in  the  angels  ;  to  human  language 
that  I  am  going  to  entrust  the  expression  of  my  grati¬ 
tude  and  my  revelations.  Men  are  dear  to  us  by  so 
many  titles,  and  we  are  united  to  them  by  bonds  so  in¬ 
timate  and  so  sacred! 

Did  we  not  receive  the  mission  to  cover  them  with  our 
wings,  to  carry  them  the  succor  of  grace,  to  guide  them 
in  the  way  of  salvation,  to  celebrate  in  the  ravishment  of 
joy  their  perseverance  in  good  or  their  return  after 
straying  away  ? 

Are  they  not  called  to  reflect,  as  we,  the  perfections  of 
our  common  Creator,  to  pay  homage  to  the  Incarnate 
Word,  to  fill  the  places  left  vacant  in  our  ranks,  to  form 
with  us  but  one  sole  city,  and  one  sole  people  ?* 

For  them,  as  for  us,  there  is  divine  origin,  solemn  trial, 
splendid  hope,  immortal  happiness. 

*  “And  we  candidates  for  happiness  among  the  angels,  from  this  place  already 
learn  that  heavenly  language  in  reference  to  God,  and  the  duty  of  future  glory .” 
(Tertullian  on  Prayer.) 

(xiii) 


XIV 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


Attentive  witnesses  of  the  facts  that  make  up  their 
history,  it  will  be  sweet  to  us  to  make  them  know  some 
facts  of  our  own.  Associated  to  their  benedictions  and 
to  their  praises,  we  wish  to  associate  them  to  our  praises 
and  to  our  benedictions. 

It  is  from  the  heights  of  glory  that  I  address  them,  in 
the  midst  of  trial,  these  few  words;  but,  returning  on  a 
past  which  shall  for  me  be  ever  present,  I  will  tell  them 
of  the  outpourings  of  divine  goodness  which  preceded, in 
us,  glory,  and  manifested  themselves  by  nature  and  by 
grace. 

Give  to  my  voice  an  attentive  ear,  oh  beloved  of  God  ! 
Awaiting,  that  truth  may  flow  into  your  heart  to  the 
sound  of  your  country’s  golden  harps,  I  will  tell  you,  in 
your  poor  language  of  exile,  what  it  most  concerns  you 
to  know. 

This  language,  so  rebellious  to  the  delicacy  of  the 
supernatural,  will  be  more  imperfect  under  the  untried 
pen  of  the  secretary,  who  of  his  own  accord  has  offered 
himself  to  me,  and  whose  good  will  I  have  wished  to 
encourage. 

There  are  secrets  reserved  to  heaven,  the  publication 
of  which  upon  earth  in  no  wise  enters  into  the  designs 
of  Providence  ;  \I  will  be  silent  about  them.  But  in 
what  it  will  be  permitted  me  to  unveil,  what  new  light, 
what  new  scenes  ! 

You  will  learn  from  us  to  reply  always  to  the  benefits 
of  God  by  gratitude.  Gratitude  !  the  first  impulse  of 
our  hearts,  the  first  canticle  of  our  lips. 

On  earth  and  in  heaven,  the  angelic  hymn  continues 
day  by  day,  to  the  end  of  time,  and  beyond  the  ages  we 
will  sing  it  anew. 


/ 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  Xv 

The  Memoirs  of  a  Seraph  will  be  only  a  new  sound, 
a  note  more  in  the  grand  concert.  Happy  shall  I  be, 
if  they  go  to  increase  in  the  heart  of  some  exile,  the  im¬ 
patience  to  see  the  land,  where  so  many  brethren  await 
and  call  him. 


BOSTON  COLLEGE  I 

FACULTY  LIBRARY 

CHESTNUT  HILL,  MASS. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


BOOK  FIRST. 


THE  OUTPOURING  OF  DIVINE  GOODNESS 
IN  THE  ANGELS  BY  NATURE. 

I. 

CREATION. 

I  am  !  Delightful  awakening  !  As  yet  no  past  ;  no  re¬ 
collection.  ’Tis  the  origin  and  beginning  of  all  ;  Mis  the 
grand  commencement.* 

And  already  I  see  myself  a  being  complete  :  my  facul¬ 
ties  are  in  full  exercise  ;  I  have  the  knowledge  of  my 
destiny,  the  feeling  of  my  situation,  the  entire  possession 
of  myself. 

First  days  of  my  existence,  what  language  shall  tell 
your  sweet  mysteries  ?  Grace  and  majesty  of  my  first 
dawn,  what  page  will  reflect  it  ?  Whence  came  to  me 
being  and  life  ?  I  did  not  give  them  to  myself  ;  they  did 
not  issue  from  nothing.  Nothing!  absolute  .sterility  ! — 
during  one  instant  only  let  there  be  nothing,  and  there 
will  be  nothing  for  all  eternity.  What  I  have,  I  have 


*  “  In  the  beginning.”  (Genesis,  c.  1.,  v.  1.) 

on 


18 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

f  * 

therefore  received  ;  and  from  whom?  Hail,  all  hail  to  the 
Eternal  ! 

Thou  alone,  0  my  God!  dost  exist  of  Thyself;  Thou 
alone,  consequently,  didst  always  exist.  Other  beings  not 
having  in  themselves  the  principle  of  their  existence,  neces¬ 
sarily  received  it,  and  could  not  receive  it  but  from  Thee.* 

Thou  art  the  author  of  things  seen  and  unseen,  and 
nothing  has  been  made  but  by  Thee.f 

Thy  creative  act  is  the  point  of  departure  for  the  dura¬ 
tion  of  beings.  It  will  be  the  proof  that  no  one  shares 
with  Thee  eternity. 

Yes,  angels,  my  brothers,  we  have  had  a  beginning 
like  the  material  world  ;  and  if  man  asks  us  at  what 
epoch  we  were  created,  we  shall  answer  ;  under  the 
reign  eternal  of  God,  in  the  first  year  and  on  the  first  day 
of  the  era  of  time. 

\ 

We  were  created,  not  in  time,  but  with  time.J  With 
us  began  the  succession  of  operations  in  spirit,  and  of 
movements  in  bodies. 

The  material  world  was  not  created  before  us  nor  after 
us;  it  was  created  with  us,  though  by  a  distinct  act.§  In 
the  beginning  God  created  the  heavens  and  the  earth, 
that  is,  spirits  and  bodies. || 

*  “  He  made  us,  and  not  we  ourselves.”  (Ps.  99.,  v.  3.) 

f  “  The  maker  of  heaven  and  of  earth,  of  all  things  visible  and  invisible.” 
(Symbol  of  Nice.) 

J  “  Undoubtedly  the  world  was  not  made  in  time,  but  with  time.”  (St.  Aug¬ 
ustin,  city  of  God,  1.11,  c.  6.) 

I  “  He  who  liveth  for  ever  created  all  things  at  once.  (Eccles.,  c.  18,  v.  1.) 
Who  by  His  omnipotent  power,  at  once,  from  the  beginning  of  time,  created 
from  nothing  both  kinds  of  creatures,  spiritual  and  corporal,  the  angelic  and  then 
earthy,  and  then  that  which  is  as  it  were  common,  constituted  in  spirit  and  in 
body.  (Fourth  Council  of  Lateran,  c.  Firmiter.) 

j  God  made  from  nothing  heaven,  that  is  angels,  and  the  earth  or  matter  with¬ 
out  form.  (St.  Augustin,  Confessions,  1.  12,  c.  7.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


19 


In  the  designs  of  God,  spirits  and  bodies  were  not  to 
form  two  independent  universes  ;  they  were  to  concur  by 
their  mutual  relations  in  the  perfection  of  an  unique  mas¬ 
terpiece.  For  this  their  creation  was  simultaneous.* 

All  substances  were  produced  at  once.  The  only  ex¬ 
ception  was  for  the  souls  of  men:  God  will  create  them 
successively,  according  as  He  may  will  to  propagate  the 
human  race.f 

Creation  was  the  first  external  act  of  God.  The  Three 
Adorable  Persons  took  part  in  it,  impressing  on  the  com¬ 
mon  work  their  triple  seal:  power,  wisdom  and  love.J 

When,  one  day,  the  human  spirit  will  have  remounted 
through  the  ages  to  discover  its  origin,  it  shall  arrive  at 
a  point  where  we  appeared,  a  point  beyond  which  there 
can  be  found  neither  time  nor  creatures. 

However  wide  the  river  becomes  in  its  course,  how¬ 
ever  lofty  the  mountain  whence  it  flows,  it  preserves  its 
first  source  and  could  not  separate  itself  from  it. 

Before  us  was  eternity  only,  without  origin,  without 
events,  without  epoch,  without  history — eternity  of  un¬ 
fathomable  depths,  composed  of  the  mysteries  of  the 
bosom  of  God,  known  of  God  alone. 

Time,  commencing  with  us,  is  yet  for  us  all  in  the 
future.  Under  the  veil  that  shrouds  it  from  us,  how 
many  secrets  lie  hidden  1  Scenes  of  grace  !  Events 
terrible  I  We  do  not  know  them  at  all  yet  ;  we  have  the 
presentiment  of  them. 

*  The  angels  are  a  certain  part  of  the  universe  ;  they  do  not  of  themselves  con¬ 
stitute  one  universe,  but  both  they  and  corporeal  creatures  come  together  to  form 
one  universe.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  61,  art  3.) 

f  Souls  are  created  at  the  same  time  with  bodies,  and  given  them.  (St.  Thomas, 
i,  q.  118,  art.  3.) 

tin  all  creatures  there  is  found  a  representation  of  divinity  as  a  trace.  (St. 
Thomas,  i,  q.  45,  art.  7.) 


I 


20 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


In  coming  forth  from  nothing,  or  rather  in  proceeding 
from  the  power  of  God,  we  saw  ourselves  ranged  in  a  bril¬ 
liant  sphere  around  the  mass  of  chaos,  ready  to  contem¬ 
plate  the  orbs  the  Creator  was  to  make  spring  forth  from  it. 

When  man  came  we  had  seen  unroll  the  chain  of  ' 
wonders  comprised  in  the  work  of  the  six  days  ;  we  had 
been  the  first  link,  as  he  was  to  be  the  last. 

We  are  therefore  the  first  born  of  creation.  To  us  was 
it  given  to  salute  first  the  Infinite  Being  who  pours  into 
us  His  treasures,  encircles  us  without  despoiling  Himself, 
gives  Himself  to  us  without  parting  with  Himself  in  any 
way. 

Outside  of  Him  is  nothingness,  where  we  were,  whence 
we  came,  on  which  we  still  border. 

We  have  received  all  of  Thee,  0  my  God!  and  Thou 
alone  dost  conserve  our  existence,  as  Thou  alone  hast 
given  it  to  us.  We  are  under  Thy  hand  as  the  impres¬ 
sion  of  a  seal  applied  to  what  is  liquid  ;  the  impression 
would  not  remain  if  the  seal  were  removed.*  ~ 

At  this  point  of  contact  of  time  and  of  eternity,  of 
nothing  and  of  the  infinite,  we  see  unveiled  Thy  sover¬ 
eign  authority  and  our  complete  dependence,  Thy  abso¬ 
lute  power  and  our  extreme  weakness,  Thee  all,  ourselves 
nothingness. 

But  no;  trust  and  love  hover  above  this,  and  dominate. 
In  Him  who  reunites  every  perfection  is  found  goodness 
in  an  eminent  way.  With  a  common  impulse,  with  total 
abandonment,  each  one  of  us  cries  out: 

*  It  is  not  preserved  a  moment  unless  the  seal  remain  impressed.  (St.  Bona- 
venture.)  Bearing  all  by  the  word  of  His  power.  (Hebr.  c.  1,  v.  3.)  He  bears 
all,  that  is,  holds  up,  lest  they  fall,  and  return  to  nothing  whence  they  were 
created  by  him.  (St.  Anselm.)  Things  of  nature  are  not  conserved  except  by 
the  power  of  God.  (St.  Thomas  against  the  Gentiles.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


21 


“I  belong  to  Thee,  then,  0  Creator!  0  Master!  0 
Sovereign  Lord!  I  belong  to  Thee,  not  as  the  waxen 
cell  to  the  bee,  the  master-piece  to  the  artist,  the  field  to 
the  farmer,  the  child  to  the  father,  but  absolutely,  fully, 
without  reserve  ;  and,  during  eternity,  my  joy,  my  de¬ 
light,  my  ravishment  shall  be  to  see  I  thus  belong  to 
Thee.”  * 


I 


22 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


y 

IL 

SPIRITUALITY. 

Our  nature  never  existed  without  grace.  Neverthe¬ 
less  it  pleases  us  to  consider  it  apart,  to  bless  God  for 
the  magnificent  privileges  with  which  He  has  endowed  us. 

The  angelic  nature  is  an  admirable  communication  of 
the  Divine  Being.  By  it  we  are  the  living  images  of  our 
Creator,  and  we  find  everywhere  in  us  the  reflex  of  His 
perfections. 

God  could  create  more  perfect  spirits  ;  He  could  not 
create  a  nature  of  an  order  more  elevated.* 

The  first  privilege  of  our  nature,  that  which  is  the 
principle  of  all  the  others,  without  which  it  could  not 
be  conceived,  is  spirituality. 

Pure  spirits,  we  have  nothing  in  common  with  bodies. 
There  is  not  in  the  angel  either  dimension,  or  odor,  or 
sound,  or  taste,  or  color.  What  man  sees,  smells,  tastes, 
touches,  or  hears — in  a  word,  all  that  falls  under  the  ob¬ 
servation  of  the  senses — is  foreign  to  us. 

The  lightest  matter,  thin  air,  imponderable  fluid,  could 
not  come  into  comparison  with  the  angelic  nature. 

As  far  as  activity  excels  inertness,  light  darkness,  life 
death,  so  far  does  the  least  perfect  of  the  angels  excel 
the  most  perfect  of  bodies. 

What  word  will  explain  positively  and  without  the  aid 


*  Although,  in  the  intellectual  order,  God  could  make  more  perfect  species,  He 
could  not  make  a  substance  of  a  higher  grade  than  the  angels  are.  (Suarez,  1.  3, 
.  2,  n.  8.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  23 

of  a  negative  the  angelic  nature  in  reality,  and  not  by 
figure  ? 

No  human  idiom  contains  that  word.  The  most  per¬ 
fect  terms  are  eliminations  or  similitudes.  They  say 
what  this  nature  is  not,  to  what  it  may  be  compared: 
they  never  express  what  it  is.* 

The  word  spirit  is  a  material  image  ;  it  signifies  a 
wind,  a  breath,  respiration.  The  beautiful  name  angel 
expresses  a  function,  not  a  nature  ;  it  recalls  what  we  do, 
not  what  we  are;  it  signifies  a  messenger. j 

The  particular  name  of  each  angel,  comprising  the 
perfections  which  characterize  him,  cannot  be  pro¬ 
nounced  on  earth.  To  men  who  desire  to  know  it,  the 
answer  will  be  given,  as  to  Manue,  the  father  of  Sam¬ 
son,  as  to  Jacob,  after  his  mysterious  wrestle;  ask  it  not 
of  me,  for  it  is  unspeakable.  J 

While  awaiting  that  it  be  given  him  to  come  and  con¬ 
template  in  the  language  of  the  angels,  the  adequate  and 
perfect  expression  of  their  nature,  man  will  conceive  my 
idea  of  it,  after  his  own  way. 

When  I  am  present  to  thy  thought,  oh  beloved  of  God, 
and  thou  hast  put  aside  successively  all  that  character- 
terizes  extension  and  matter,  has  every  idea  disappeared? 
Assuredly  no!  What  remains?  What  was  most  ele¬ 
vated  and  most  excellent  in  thy  intelligence  ?  A  sub¬ 
stance  endowed  with  life,  with  sight,  with  will,  feeling, 
liberty  :  a  pure  spirit,  an  angel. 

*  We  do  not  know  accurately  the  substance  of  the  angels,  and, even  should  we 
philosophize  a  thousand  times,  we  cannot  find  it  out.  (St.  J.  Chrysostom,  In¬ 
comprehensibility  of  the  Nature  of  God,  Horn.  5.) 

f  Angel  is  the  name  of  an  office,  not  of  nature.  (St.  Augustin,  on  the  103  Ps.) 

J  Why  do  ye  seek  my  name  which  is  wonderful?  (Judges,  c.  13,  v.  18;  Gene¬ 
sis,  c.  32,  v.  29.) 


24 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

An  angel  is,  in  fact,  a  spiritual  substance,  distinguished 
from  God  in  this,  that  it  is  limited  and  finite  ;  from  the 
soul  in  this,  that  it  is  complete  and  destined  to  suffice 
for  itself  without  being  united  to  a  body. 

How  can  we  represent  by  a  material  image  that  which 
is  essentially  the  opposite  of  matter? 

Seek,  oh  man,  what  thou  canst  conceive  of  us  most 
pure,  most  free  from  dross,  most  brilliant;  unite  with  the 
richness  of  gold  the  transparence  of  crystal.  Choose  a 
precious  stone  ;  take  a  chrysolite.  A  chrysolite  shall  be 
for  the  prophet  of  God  the  symbol  of  our  spirituality.* 

Faithful  to  the  excellence  of  our  nature,  we  shall  never 
lower  ourselves  to  the  level  of  matter.  In  our  thoughts, 
our  affections,  our  actions,  everything  will  remain  pure, 
noble,  elevated  as  in  our  substance  itself. 

The  bird  feels  he  has  not  received  his  rapid  wings  to 
creep.  He  only  touches  the  earth  in  passing,  by  neces¬ 
sity,  and  hastes  to  regain  his  airy  country.  It  is  in  the 
air  he  breathes,  lives,  sings  and  plays. 

Birds  of  heaven,  we  live  in  a  region  inaccessible  to 
what  is  low  and  gross.  Nothing  that  is  material  has  any 
attraction  for  us. 

Human  imagination  has  told  for  itself  on  this  point  a 
strange  story. 

An  angel  sent  from  heaven  upon  earth  to  discharge  a 
mission,  wished  to  profit  by  the  sojourn  in  the  midst  of 
material  creatures  to  consider  their  beauty. 

Instead  of  keeping  his  looks  on  high,  as  before,  this 
angel  ceased  not  to  look  below. 

*  His  body  was  as  of  chrysolite.  (Daniel,  c.  10,  v.  6.)  Chrysolite  here  signi¬ 
fies  the  very  excellent  nature  of  angels,  heavenly  and  spiritual,  which  is  above 
other  creatures  as  the  sun  above  the  stars,  gold  above  metals.  (Cornelius  a  Lap- , 
id'e,  on  this  passage.) 


/ 


'  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


25 


He  bent  over  the  crystal  how  of  the  streams  and  of 
the  rivers,  admired  the  green  prairies  and  the  whitening 
harvests  ;  assisted  at  the  blooming  of  flowers  and  at  the 
formation  of  fruits  ;  followed  with  his  eye  the  varied  gam¬ 
bols  of  animals,  and  the  thousand  undertakings  of  man. 

In  this  inferior  contemplation,  he  lived,  understood, 
discovered  so  many  and  such  beautiful  things,  that  he 
was  astonished,  and  ended  by  taking  complacency  in 
them. 

Now,  in  consequence  of  an  attachment  so  unworthy  of 
him,  he  felt  his  heart  suddenly  abandoned  by  divine  in¬ 
fluence,  and  his  brilliant  wings  fall. 

When  he  bethought  him  of  taking  flight  heavenward, 
he  found  himself  tied  down  to  the  earth  by  a  fatal  weight, 
and  was  condemned  to  drag  out  out  a  long  exile  in  the 
miry  paths  of  earth  before  being  able  to  regain  his  lost 
throne  above. 

A  true  history,  but  of  man,  not  of  an  angel.  How 
many  souls  ornamented,  like  us,  with  magnificent  wings, 
see  themselves  despoiled  every  day,  in  punisnment 
of  attachments  unworthy  of  their  condition  and  of  their 
nature  ! 

Intelligence,  imagination,  heart,  will,  everything  in 
these  souls  feels  the  counter-stroke  of  the  fall  and  un¬ 
dergoes  the  laws  of  moral  heaviness. 

Instead  of  loving,  as  before,  what  is  high,  and  taking 
noble  flights,  these  souls  hardly  move  ;  they  drag  them¬ 
selves  along  in  their  paths  ;  they  creep. 


26 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


III. 

THE  FACULTIES. 

A  man  of  science  thought  he  had  described  the  wonders 
of  the  human  body,  when  he  had  only  touched  on  them. 
Putting  down  his  pen  and  rising,  he  exclaimed;  I  have 
sung  my  hymn  to  the  Creator! 

What  transports  would  this  religious  and  po"etic  genius 
have  experienced,  what  a  hymn  he  would  have  sung,  had 
it  been  given  him  to  see,  in  their  full  light,  not  some 
gross  organs  of  the  body,  but  the  beautiful  and  noble 
faculties  of  the  soul  ! 

Let  man  collect  his  thoughts,  and  look  within  himself  ; 
let  him  interrogate  himself  on  his  spiritual  faculties,  and 
endeavor  to  seize  their  nature  and  their  play  :  on  every 
side  marvels!  but  everywhere,  too,  mystery! 

Unable  to  define  and  describe  any  of  his  faculties,  man 
is  not  more  successful  in  their  distinction  and  classifica¬ 
tion.  United  in  a  common  admiration,  observers  of  all 
ages  will  have  on  this  subject  the  most  divergent  theories, 
and  often  the  most  contradictory. 

It  is  because,  in  his  present  state,  the  human  spirit  has 
not  the  extent  and  penetration  necessary  to  comprehend 
the  works  of  God.  Very  simple  when  seen  in  its  entirety, 
every  work  of  God  becomes  complex  and  inexplicable 
when  viewed  only  in  part. 

A  material  element  offers  the  image  of  that  simplicity 
and  of  that  multiplicity  united. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


As  long  as  the  electric  fluid  is  in  repose  man  can 
scarcely  suspect  its  presence.  As  soon  as  it  is  in  play, 
see  it  developing  admirable  qualities,  producing  heat, 
light,  color,  sound,  movement,  fertility,  every  phenom¬ 
enon. 

A  thousand  times  more  wonderful  than  the  faculties  of 
man  are  those  of  the  angel. 

In  describing  and  celebrating  these  wonders,  I  too  am 
going  to  offer  my  sacrifice  to  the  Eternal  ;  I  am  going  to 
sing  my  hymn  to  the  Creator. 

Our  faculties  have  their  seat  in  our  essence,  and  cannot 
be  separated  from  it.  Deprived  all  at  once  of  its 
faculties,  not  only  would  our  essence  be  no  more  what  it 
is,  but  it  would  be  nothing,  and  could  not  even  be  con¬ 
ceived  in  thought. 

Our  faculties  however  are  distinguished  from  our 
essence,  and  subsist  in  it  without  confusion.* 

Just  as  in  the  plant,  the  root  is  the  principle  of  all, 
and  the  stem  the  proximate  principle  of  the  leaves  and  of 
the  flowers,  in  like  manner,  in  us,  the  essence  is  the  com¬ 
mon  principle  whence  all  proceeds,  but  the  faculties  are 
the  proximate  principles  of  our  divers  operations.! 

Our  faculties  have  not  germinated  in  our  essence,  nor 
have  they  grown  there  ;  they  wrere  created  perfect  from 
the  first  instant.J  Essence  and  faculties  were  the  effect 

*  The  heavenly  spirits  are  divided  into  essence,  virtue  and  operation.  (St. 
Denys.  Hier.,  c.  11.)  Neither  the  will  of  an  angel  nor  of  any  other  creature  can 
be  the  same  as  its  essence.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  59,  art.  2.)  The  being  of  an  angel 
is  not  its  understanding.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  54,  art.  2.) 

f  In  the  same  way  the  root  of  a  tree  produces  fruit  only  by  means  o.  its 
branches.  (Sanseverino,  Dynamology,  c.  1,  art.  1.) 

I  For  they  were  not  created  in  a  state  of  infancy,  and  from  that  nurtured  and 
perfected.  (St.  Basil,  on  the  82  Ps  ) 


28 


i 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


of  the  same  act.  They  are  the  different  aspects  of  the 
first  effusion  of  the  divine  love  in  us. 

The  faculties  of  man  have  much  analogy  with  those  of 
the  angel  ;  they  differ  not  less  sensibly. 

In  the  points  which  offer  the  greatest  resemblance  to 
human  faculties,  the  faculties  of  the  angel  have  a  power 
incomparably  superior. 

The  faculties  of  the  soul  are  exercised  only  by  the  aid 
of  material  organs  :  those  of  the  angel  suffice  for  them¬ 
selves,  and  operate  without  help  or  external  means. 

The  faculties  of  man,  being  the  immediate  principle  of 
all  human  acts,  work  often  phenomena  or  effects  of  a 
mixed  character.*  Those  of  the  angel,  not  leaving  the 
intellectual  sphere,  operate  always  with  simplicity,  and 
never  produce  any  but  effects  simple  as  themselves. 

Finally,  the  faculties  of  man  having  less  extension  than 
those  of  the  angel,  must  be,  to  embrace  the  same  object, 
more  numerous,  and  produce  more  multifold  acts.  God, 
Sovereign  perfection,  has  no  faculty  and  no  action  but 
His  essence.! 

Perhaps,  0  soul!  so  joyous  in  contemplating  these 
heights  with  me,  thou  dost  feel  sometimes  a  difficulty  in 
reaching  them.  Do  not  torment  thyself.  Think  of  the 
transports  thou  wilt  experience  the  day  they  shall  be  re¬ 
vealed  to  thee.  We  admire  in  Denys,  and  in  Thomas, 
the  powerful  glance  of  the  eagle  ;  we  love,  in  inferior 
genius,  the  confiding  look  of  the  dove. 

*  As  man  is  on  the  confines  of  both  spiritual  and  corporal  creation,  therefore 
the  virtues  of  both  come  together  in  him.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  n.  77,  art.  2.) 

f  Man  is  in  the  last  grade  of  those  destined  to  beatitude;  and  therefore  the  hu¬ 
man  soul  needs  many  and  différent  operations  and  virtues;  the  angels  have  less 
diversity  of  powers  ;  but  in  God  there  is  no  pjwer  or  action  besides  his  essence. 
(St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  77,  art.  2.) 


/ 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


29 


In  God,  as  in  the  angel,  thou  dost  form  an  idea  of  what 
is  simplicity  itself,  yet  only  in  a  multifold  and  divided 
manner.  I  will  adapt  my  discourse  to  thy  manner  of 
conception. 

To  our  faculties  are  due  our  relations.  By  them  are 
produced  in  us  the  phenomena  of  the  great  social  life. 
We  become  accessible  to  all  beings,  and  all  beings  be¬ 
come  accessible  to  us.  It  is,  as  it  were,  a  continual  out¬ 
going  to  what  is  exterior,  and  a  continual  incoming  into 
us  of  exterior  realities.  We  are  strangers  to  nothing, 
and  nothing  remains  strange  to  us. 

But  this  is  too  long  stopping  at  the  general  view  and 
preamble:  let  us  haste  to  possess  ourselves  successively 
of  each  strophe  of  the  hymn.  Let  us  consider  the  won¬ 
ders  of  divine  goodness  in  each  one  of  our  faculties,  and 
in  each  of  the  privileges  of  our  nature. 


30 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH 

> 


iv. 

INTELLIGENCE. 

Intelligence,  eye  limpid  and  pure,  carrying  within  it¬ 
self  its  own  focus,  and  seeing  by  its  own  light! 

Intelligence,  torch  giving  light  within  us  and  around 
us,  and  imparting  consciousness  of  the  realities  it  illumes! 

Intelligence,  divine  ray,  derived  from  the  intimate 
brightness  of  the  eternal  Word,  and  given  to  us  by  the 
Creator!* 

Intelligence,  sublime  and  wonderful  faculty  ;  why  is  it 
that,  in  time,  pride  clings  to  thee  as  a  shadow  to  a  body, 
that  it  digs  abysses  at  thy  feet,  and  that  thou  canst  not 
cast  a  glance  on  thyself  without  exposing  thyself  to  diz¬ 
ziness  ! 

To  know,  comprehend,  to  read  within,  is  what  is  proper 
to  intelligence.  This  faculty  reunites  insight  and  dis¬ 
cernment,  perception  and  appreciation.  These  are  the 
clearer,  the  more  piercing  and  firm  the  intelligence.  In 
perfect  intelligence  there  is  complete  equalling  of  the  per¬ 
ception  within  us,  and  of  the  object  perceived  without. f 

The  divine  intelligence  is  infinite  ;  thus  for  God  every¬ 
thing  is  light  and  truth. $  Placed  by  the  side  of  the  in- 

*  The  second  splendors  were  created  as  ministers  of  the  first  splendor.  (St. 
Gregory  Nazianzen,  Serm.  38.) 

f  The  word  intellect  implies  a  certain  intimate  knowledge  ;  the  (Latin)  word 
intelligere  signifies,  as  it  were,  to  read  within.  (St.  Thomas,  ii,  q.  8,  art  1.) 

Î  The  equality  or  exact  agreement  of  the  conception  with  the  thing  conceived. 
(St.  Thomas,  Against  the  Gentiles,  1,  59.) 


BOSTON  COLLEGE  LIBhAfO 
CHESTNUT  HILL,  MASS. 

MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  31 

telligence  of  God,  angelic  intelligence  is  but  an  impercep¬ 
tible  reflex;  by  the  side  of  that  of  man,  it  is  a  shining 
torch. 

Human  intellects,  the  most  elevated,  are  like  moun¬ 
tains  buried  under  the  waves  of  the  ocean,  and  raising 
their  summits  toward  the  surface  they  cannot  attain. 

The  angelic  intellects  the  most  elevated  are  like  moun¬ 
tains  which  dominate  not  only  the  ocean,  but  also  the 
lower  regions  of  the  earth,  and  bear  heavenward  their 
aerial  brows. 

The  divine  intellect  is  the  height  dominating  all 
these  ;  it  is  the  firmament,  the  azure  vault,  increat-ed 
space,  the  infinite. 

Intelligence  characterizes  the  pure  spirits,  and  even 
gives  them  their  name.  Man  says  daily,  in  speaking  of 
us,  the  higher  intelligences,  the  celestial  intelligences.* 

Our  intelligence  is  distinguished  from  human  intelli¬ 
gence,  and  surpasses  it  by  the  rapidity,  clearness,  extent, 
and  continuity  of  its  perceptions. 

The  human  spirit  is  slow  in  its  operations.  It  only 
proceeds  by  partial  discoveries,  which  it  connects  to¬ 
gether  as  best  it  can,  forcing  itself  to  supply  by  reason¬ 
ing  for  the  intuitive  vision  it  lacks. f  More  frequently, 
we  seize  at  first  sight  what  it  is  given  us  to  understand 
naturally^.  There  is^not  in  us  a  process  of  reasoning  lead¬ 
ing  from  one  truth  to  another,  from  what  is  known  to 

\ 

*  Whence  they  are  named  Intelligences.  (Cornel,  a  Lapide,  on  Zachariah 
.  c.  3.  n.  9.) 

f  They  proceed  from  one  known  thing  to  another.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  58,  art.  3.) 

X  They  immediately  see  whatever  can  be  known  in  those  things  they  natur¬ 
ally  know.  (Ibid.)  With  regard  to  knowledge  of  intellect,  they  clearly  see 
everything  naturally  knowable  without  delay  or  discourse  of  reason.  (Vivien 
on  St.  Michael.) 


32 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


what  is  unknown.  These  windings  and  impediments  to 
the  human  spirit  are  foreign  to  us.  A  simple  look  is 
sufficient  for  us.  We  do  not  know  first  the  cause  and 
then  the  effect.  We  see  immediately  the  effect  in  the 
cause,  and  the  cause  in  the  effect.  In  a  word,  we  are 
intelligent  creatures,  while  men  are  reasoning  creatures  ; 
a  term  which  at  once  expresses  a  precious  faculty,  and 
a  deplorable  weakness.* 

It  seems  that  for  human  intelligence  there  is  only  sur¬ 
face.!  Obliged  to  make  use  of  corporeal  things  to  form 
its  ideas,  it  sees  only  the  outside  ;  it  does  not  see  the 
depth  and  the  entirety  of  any  thing.  Angelic  intelli¬ 
gence  has  other  vigor  and  other  processes.  It  receives 
without  material  intermediaries,  ideas  and  images. | 
Thence  result  a  clearness  and  a  neatness  of  conception 
perfect.  Our  glance  reaches  at  once  the  inmost  secrets 
of  natural  realities.  We  read  beings  interiorly,  discern 
their  accidents  and  their  substance.  In  all  we  see,  we 
distinguish  perfectly  the  certain  from  the  uncertain  ;  we 
are  never  subject  to  any  intellectual  illusion  ;  we  never 
fall  into  error.  || 

The  same  field  was  laid  open  to  man’s  view  and  to  ours — 
God  and  the  world  ;  spirits  and  bodies  ;  the  past  and  the 
present  ;  the  future  itself,  in  a  certain  measure. 

*  But  human  souls  are  called  rational;  and  this  because  of  the  weakness  of 
intellectual  light  in  them.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  58,  art.  3.) 

f  Men  need  in  their  cognition  their  senses,  which  deceive  them.  (Vivien, 
Angelas.) 

|  The  natural  knowledge  of  angels  is  independent  of  the  senses,  as  it  is  purely 
intellectual.  {Ibid.) 

||  If  you  compare  the  cognition  of  man  with  that  of  the  angel,  it  is  wholly  un¬ 
certain.  (St.  Ephrem,  Hymn  on  the  Nature  of  Angels.)  In  the  k ■  owledge  of  the 
angels  there  cannot  be  deception  and  what  is  false.  (St.  Thomas,  i.  q.  58,  art.  5.) 

J 


/ 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


33 


But  in  the  midst  of  this  vast  field,  human  intelligence 
is  like  an  eye  affected  with  difficulty  of  vision.  Lacking 
power,  its  view  remains  circumscribed  by  a  narrow  hori¬ 
zon.* * * § 

Angelic  intelligence  embraces  a  view  immensely 
greater.f  With  the  exception  of  the  supernatural  world, 
and  of  particular  secrets  God  has  reserved  to  Himself,  it 
seizes  and  comprehends  every  thing.  J 

Finally,  human  intelligence  has  long  and  frequent 
periods  of  intermittence.  From  fatigue,  in  sleep,  the  soul 
falls  into  a  state  of  inactivity,  ceases  to  be  conscious  of 
itself,  loses  sight  of  every  truth. § 

Angelic  nature  is  not  subject  to  these  weaknesses.  It  is 
constantlv  in  movement  and  action.  It  ceases  neither  to 
see  nor  to  be  conscious  of  that  which  it  sees.  Neither 
fatigue  nor  sleep  come  to  suspend  its  action. ||  There  is 
not  in  it  pure  act,  as  there  is  in  God,  and  it  cannot  think 
of  a  determined  object;  but  it  could  not  subsist  one  mo¬ 
ment  without  thinking  of  some  object.^]"  Thought  is  es¬ 
sential  to  it.  Made  for  light,  it  has  in  light  its  element 
and  its  life. 

As  intellectual  substance  and  as  pure  intelligence,  our 

*  The  knowledge  of  man  is  very  limited;  it  extends  to  few  objects.  (Vivien, 
Angelus.) 

f  The  knowledge  of  the  angels  is  most  ample.  (Vivien,  Angelus.) 

J  The  spiritual  power  of  the  angelic  mind  most  easily  seizes  whatever  it 
wishes.  (St.  Augustin,  on  Genesis  ad  Litteram.) 

§  We  are  found  sometimes  intelligent  in  the  power  to  understand,  not  in  the 
act.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  54,  art.  4.)  The  knowledge  of  man  is  pot  continual,  on 
account  of  dependence  of  the  intellect  on  the  senses.  (Vivien,  Angelus.) 

||  The  angels  alone  are  always  conscious,  or  present  to  themselves.  (St.  John. 
Clinacus,  The  Ladder  of  Heaven,  4th  Round.) 

Nor  are  they  at  times  intelligent,  only  in  the  power  to  be  so.  (St.  Thomas*, 
i,  q.  54,  art.  4.) 

2 


84 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


angel  could  not  be  better  represented  for  man,  than 
under  the  symbol  of  an  eye  penetrating  and  vigilant. 
The  prophets  will  call  us,  in  fact,  the  eyes  of  the  Lamb, 
the  eyes  of  Providence.* * 

To  God  be  ever  life,  who  has  created  us  fire,  living  and 
seeing!  Rays  that  are  substantial,  derived  from  the 
source  of  his  intelligence,  it  will  be  permitted  us  to  glory 
in  our  noble  origin.  We  too,  0  Word  Uncreated,  shall 
be  able  to  proclaim  ourselves,  not  as  Thou,  but  in  a  sense 
nevertheless  that  gives  us  great  glory  :  Light  of  Light, 

behold  what  an  Angel  is  ! 

.  1 

*  Apocalypse,  c.  5,  v.  6.  By  means  of  the  angels  God  presides  over  men  ;  for 
this  reason  they  are  called  eyes.  (St.  Clement  of  Alexandria,  Strom..  1.  6.) 
Angels  are  called  eyes  because  they  are  most  penetrating  and  vigilant  minds. 
(Corn,  a  Lap.  on  Zachariah ,  c.  3,  n.  8.  9.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


35 


Y. 

MEMORY.  1 

Before  God  everything  is  simultaneously  present. 
There  is  for  Him  no  past  nor  future.  It  is  one  perpetual 
present.  From  all  eternity  God  sees  what  has  been  and 
what  will  be  with  regard  to  creatures.  He  assists  at  all  the 
hours  that  make  up  duration,  and  hears,  as  in  one  concert, 
the  voice  of  Moses  and  the  harp  of  David,  the  canticle  of 
the  first  man  and  the  groans  of  the  last.  His  hours,  his  days, 
his  years,  his  ages,  are  included  in  this  one  word:  ever! 

Lo!  to  us,  beings  scarcely  come  from  nothing,  whose 
condition  is  to  go,  to  run,  to  precipitate  ourselves  with 
all  creatures  from  the  past  to  the  future,  to  us  God  has 
given  a  faculty  which  will  seize  in  their  flight  these  rapid 
hours,  holds  them,  fixes  them  in  the  present,  and  with 
these  mobile  elements  will  form  for  us  the  most  striking 
image  of  an  immovable  eternity. 

Memory  is  the  aid  and  complement  of  intelligence. 
Without  it  every  act  of  intelligence  would  be  isolated  and 
without  value.  Intelligence  seeks,  discovers,  amasses 
treasures:  memory  receives  them  in  deposit  and  con¬ 
serves  them.  Intelligence  is  to  the  memory  what  the  act 
is  to  a  habit.  These  two  faculties  do  not  essentially  dif¬ 
fer.  They  have  the  same  object.  The  second  is  only 
the  first  considered  in  the  continuation  of  its  act.* 


*  Memory  is  not  a  separate  power  from  intellect.  Intelligence  arises  from 
memory  as  an  act  from  a  habit.  (St.  Thoma9,  i,  q.  79,  art.  7.) 


r 


'  •  ;  . 


36  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

Limpid  and  pure  ice,  the  memory  of  the  angel  receives 
the  image  of  all  that  intelligence  attains  to,  within  or 
without,  and  renders  it  fixed  and  permanent,  even  to  the 
most  intimate  and  fugitive  acts.  Memory  in  us,  as  in  man, 
is  the  place  for  the  images  of  things.* 

Man,  who  learns  with  difficulty,  retains  with  greater 
difficulty  still.  His  memory,  exercising  itself  like  his 
other  faculties,  only  by  the  aid  of  his  body,  experiences 
trouble  and  delay  continually.  The  most  elevated  genius 
seizes  at  a  time  only  a  small  particle  of  his  knowledge  ; 
while  he  applies  himself  to  one  part,  the  rest  disappears. 

As  for  us,  whose  memory  is  not  subject  to  the  same 
conditions,  we  can  retain  and  fix  in  us  the  images  of 
things  without  effort.  As  in  the  crystal  waters  the 
meadow  and  its  flowers,  the  firmament  and  its  stars,  re¬ 
flect  and  paint  themselves,  so  those  realities,  so  rebel¬ 
lious  to  man’s  will,  come  to  reflect  and  paint  themselves 
in  us. 

They  place  and  range  themselves  in  our  memory,  in 
order  and  in  harmony,  according  to  time,  position,  and 
the  thousand  circumstances  in  which  they  are  produced. 
The  new  images  do  not  overlap  the  old  ones,  nor  veil 
them.  In  our  remembrance,  everything  shines  with  its 
own  light.  Neither  misunderstanding  nor  confusion  as 
possible.! 

Forgetfulness,  that  continual  torment  of  the  human 
spirit,  that  perpetual  ravisher  of  its  labors  and  of  its 


*  It  is  the  nature  of  memory  that  it  be  the  treasury  that  preserves  the  images 
of  things.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  79,  art.  7.) 

f  In  the  knowledge  of  the  angel  there  can  be  no  deception  and  falsity.  (St. 
Thomas,  i,  q.  5 ■S,  art.  5.) 


/ 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH . 


37 


knowledge,  to  us  is  unknown.*  Nothing  of  what  was 
once  acquired  by  our  faculty  of  knowing  ever  escapes  our 
will.  It  is  not  naturally  possible  for  us  to  consider  si¬ 
multaneously  and  with  the  same  attention  every  object 
of  our  knowledge,  this  privilege  being  reserved  for  the 
state  of  glory  ;  but  we  can  always  consider  them  succes¬ 
sively.! 

Although  they  reproduce  in  us  phenomena  and  reali¬ 
ties  of  different  date,  our  recollections  remain  always 
equally  docile.  The  most  ancient,  as  the  most  recent, 
offer  themselves  to  us  the  moment  we  desire  it,  and  we 
have  never  any  need  of  laboriously  recalling  them.! 

The  revelations  and  the  apparitions  which  marked  our 
coming  into  existence  were  the  first  treasure  confided  to 
our  memory.  From  that  day,  the  deposit  has  been  en¬ 
riched  by  all  the  spectacles  of  which  we  have  been  wit¬ 
nesses,  and  by  all  the  interior  impressions  which  we  have 
experienced.  It  will  increase  till  the  end  of  time  with 
the  events  of  earth  and  of  heaven.  Heaven  and  earth 
will  have  their  archives  in  common  in  the  memory  of  the 
angel.  An  immense  treasure,  always  open,  always  present, 
which  the  angel  carries  with  him  wherever  he  goes,  and 
which  he  can  constantly  make  use  of! 

We  have  not,  in  fact,  a  memory  which  fails  and  de¬ 
ceives  us,  and  which  it  is  necessary  to  help  by  artificial 
means.  We  shall  not  confide  to  a  light  and  frail  leaf  the 

*  As  regards  firmness  of  memory,  it  is  so  happy  it  never  forgets.  (Vivien,  on 
Si.  Michael.) 

f  It  does  not  always  actually  consider  what  it  naturally  knows,  but  as  regards 
knowledge  of  the  Word,  and  what  it  sees  in  the  Word,  it  is  never  in  this  way 
possessed  of  power  only,  because  it  always  actually  beholds  the  Word,  and  sees 
what  is  in  the  Word.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  58  art.  1.) 

J  St.  Aug.,  on  Genesis ,  1.  4,  c.  32.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


\ 


88 

idea  which  already  is  disappearing  ;  heap  together  in  a 
book  exposed  to  the  ravages  of  time  what  we  can 
save  from  the  shipwreck  of  our  thoughts  ;  put  in  a 
library,  itself  soon  buried  in  solitude  and  silence,  what 
we  wish  to  transmit  to  ages  to  come. 

Our  memory,  then,  is  the  page  unfailing,  the  book  not 
to  be  corrupted,  the  library  in  perfect  order,  where  the 
ages  meet,  where  moments  and  centuries  will  remain  as 
present. 

0  memory  !  precious  faculty,  preserver  of  light  and  of 
life,  ’tis  thou  dost  render  tributary  to  the  angel  every 
particle  of  time.  ’Tis  thou  that  forcest  the  torrent  to 
deposit  on  its  banks  the  gold  of  science,  and  ’tis  thou  who 
dost  prevent  the  new  wave  from  carrying  away  what  the 
former  one  brought. 

Flow  on,  flow  on,  rapid  ages;  carry  away  in  your 
course  ephemeral  existences  ;  cause  phenomena  to  succeed 
phenomena,  substances  substances  ;  heap  us  in  the  night 
of  the  past  acts  and  their  authors,  beings  and  events — 
what  our  eye  has  seized  was  marked  with  a  luminous 
sign,  which  will  cause  it  to  subsist  eternally  before  us. 

I  can  therefore  contemplate  and  admire  in  myself,  as 
in  a  heaven  always  unfolded  before  my  eyes,  the  touch¬ 
ing  spectacle  of  the  divine  benefits.  What  shall  I  say? 
Thou  too,  0  my  God! — Thou  wilt  remain  ever  present  to 
my  memory  ;  through  it  will  be  given  me  always  to  re¬ 
joice  in  the  sight  of  Thy  perfections.* 

*  Thou  remain  est  in  my  memory,  and  there  I  find  thee.  These  are  my  holy 
delights.  (St.  Aug.,  Confess.,  10,  24.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


89 


VL 

THE  WILL. 

-  f 

To  the  revelations  of  the  intelligence,  preserved  in  us 
by  memory,  there  answers  the  awakening  of  a  new  fac¬ 
ulty,  the  will.* 

We  shall  not  be  inert  spectators  of  the  immense  de¬ 
velopment  that  goes  on  around  us.  An  irresistible  in¬ 
fluence  impels  to  action.  We  have  been  created  essen¬ 
tially  active  and  acting. 

In  giving  us  the  principle  and  initiative  of  action,  God 
has  produced  in  us  a  reflex  and  an  image  of  His  creative 
power. 

Aided  by  divine  concourse,  with  which  no  finite  power 
can  dispense,  our  will  will  produce  acts.  These  acts 
shall  have  in  us  and  around  us  effects  of  which  we  shall 
be  the  responsible  causes,  and  which  will  be  ours. 

Our  will  is  so  naturally  active  that  it  is  constantly  in 
activity,  and  inaction  is  impossible  on  its  part.  It  is  a 
matter  of  indifference  to  it  whether  it  do  this  or  that  act, 
but  it  could  not  remain  one  instant  without  acting. 
Action  is  its  breath,  f 

Our  will  is  exercised  both  in  the  spiritual  and  in  the 
material  world. 


*  Since  the  angels  know  by  intellect  what  universal  good  is,  it  is  clear  that 
they  have  will.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  59,  art.  1.) 

t  The  will  of  an  angel  does  not  go  from  act  to  inaction,  hut  from  one  act  to 
another.  Nor  can  it  suspend  all  free  act.  (Suarez,  1.  8,  c.  11,  n.  20.) 


/. 


40 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


In  the  spiritual  world,  it  can  act  alone  and  isolated,  go 
to  the  aid  of  other  wills  or  resist  them,  second  their  ac¬ 
tion  or  combat  it. 

In  the  material  world,  its  action  is  immediate  and  can¬ 
not  be  exerted  at  a  distance  ;  but  not  on  that  account  is 
there  any  contact — it  has  nothing  in  common  with  the 
action  of  bodies  on  bodies. 

The  activity  of  our  will  is,  like  that  of  our  intelligence, 
a  spring  of  perpetual  flow.*  Inexhaustible  treasure! 
We  shall  find  there,  0  my  God  !  the  means  of  multiply¬ 
ing  without  ènd  the  marks  of  our  love.  Just  as  Thou 
couldst  draw  eternally  from  nothing  new  beings,  without 
exhausting  Thy  creative  power,  so  will  it  be  given  to  us 
to  produce  without  ceasing,  in  time  and  in  eternity,  new 
acts,  without  exhausting  our  power  to  act. 

The  creation  I  have  the  faculty  to  work  shall  therefore 
be  of  every  moment.  At  every  instant  it  will  be  re¬ 
newed,  doubled,  used  a  hundred  times,  and  it  will  pro¬ 
gress  indéfini  tively. 

In  proportion  as  I  discover  in  the  bosom  of  the  infi¬ 
nite  new  depths  of  perfection,  I  shall  produce  new  acts 
of  my  will.  My  love  shall  know  no  rest  ;  or  rather  my 
rest  and  delight  shall  be  this  incessant,  perpetual  activity. 

In  a  thousand  ways,  0  my  God  !  I  can  be  and  am  the 
object  of  Thy  love  ;  but  by  my  will  only  it  is  given  me 
to  return  thanks,  to  trace  everything  to  Thee,  to  glorify 
Thee  in  all. 

The  honor  of  the  angelic  nature  then  is  also  the  ex¬ 
cellence  of  human  nature.  By  the  exercise  of  this  fac¬ 
ulty,  each  day  strengthened  and  made  more  perfect,  every 

man,  on  earth,  erects  his  monument  or  digs  his  furrow. 

« - - - — 

*  The  founts  and  sources  of  cognition.  (St.  Sophronius,  Encom.  Angel.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


41 


When  we  see  a  man  aim  high,  go  forward  to  it  with 
decision,  allow  himself  to  be  dismayed  by  no  obstacle, 
brave  half  a  century  of  difficulties,  and  realize  some  great 
work,  we  hear  him  spoken  of  as  a  man  of  intelligence, 
of  rare  ability,  of  great  knowledge  ;  we  admire  in  him 
first  of  all  the  man  of  will. 

“  What  is  necessary  to  succeed  in  the  immense  work 
of  personal  perfection? ”  asked  a  pious  soul  of  a  saint. 

u  With  the  help  of  grace,”  replied  the  saint,  “  nothing 
but  a  will.”* 

A  will!  Not  alia  council  of  angels  could  have  an¬ 
swered  otherwise. 


*  Life  of  Thomas  St.  of  Aquin. 


42 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


VII. 

STRENGTH. 

Although  before  God  our  strength  is  naught  but 
weakness,  it  is  immense.  Compared  with  that  of  man,  it  is 
invincible.  All  human  power  combined  could  not  resist 
the  will  of  one  angel.* 

For  us,  in  the  material  world  there  is  no  obstacle. 
One  instant  would  be  enough  for  us  to  put  the  animals  to 
death,  tear  up  trees,  overturn  mountains,  reduce  the 
'  rocks  to  powder,  overthrow  everything,  break  to  pieces 
everything,  and  bring  back  chaos. f 

But  our  natural  power  is  restrained  and  regulated  by 
the  will  of  God.  God  confided  to  us  the  maintenance  of 
order,  as  He  imposes  on  "the  wicked  spirits  respect  for 
it.$ 

Our  strength  enjoys  a  privilege  which  must  seem  very 
enviable  to  man  ;  that  is,  it  does  not  diminish  by  the  act 
by  which  it  is  applied.  We  are  never  reduced,  as  he  is, 
to  impotence  by  the  manifestation  of  our  strength. 

For  man,  the  body  is  as  a  heavy  instrument  which  he 
cannot  do  without,  and  which  quickly  tires  the  hand  that 
uses  it.  The  breast  often  is  in  need  of  breath  ;  the  head 

*  Powerful  in  strength.  Ps.  102,  v.  20  ;  Ps.  103,  v.  4.  St.  Peter,  2  Ep.,  c.  2,  v.  11. 
Did  the  angels  do  what  they  were  able  to  do,  they  could  not  be  resisted.  (St. 
Augustin,  on  Ps,  95.) 

f  If  you  regard  their  bare  natural  faculty,  the  angels  could  kill  animals,  tear  up 
trees,  transfer  mountains,  etc.  (Suarez,  1.  4,  c.  27,  n.  6.) 

t  The  holy  angels  obey  the  divine  ordinations  at  the  word.  Bad  angels  can-’ 
not  resist  them,  although  they  should  desire  to  do  so.  (Ibid.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


43 


grows  heavy  ;  the  arm  falls  ;  the  knee  bends  ;  each  mem¬ 
ber  wears  out,  and  the  soul  feels  the  counter-stroke  of 
all  these  failures.  She  commands,  but  is  no  longer 
obeyed. 

It  is  not  thus  with  us.  There  being  no  obstacle  to 
the  free  and  full  exercise  of  our  activity,  fatigue  is  un¬ 
known  to  us.*  In  the  spirit  which  has  just  executed 
works  apparently  the  most  difficult,  and  which  in  conse¬ 
quence  has  been  obliged  to  bring  into  play  the  greatest 
strength,  the  strength  remains  the  same,  and  finds  itself 
unimpaired  and  fresh  for  the  undertaking  of  other  ope¬ 
rations. 

But  we  have  said,  however  great  it  appear  or  be,  our 
strength  has  its  limits.  Immensely  superior  to  that  of 
man,  it  is  infinitely  inferior  to  that  of  God. 

It  can  exert  itself  only  upon  beings  already  existing. 
It  is  a  dogma  of  faith  for  man  that  we  have  never  exer¬ 
cised  the  power  of  creating,  and  it  is  certain  that  wre 
shall  never  exercise  it.  This  is  an  incommunicable  attri¬ 
bute  of  the  Sovereign  Being  !f 

It  is  the  same  with  the  power  to  annihilate.  We  could 
not  annihilate  even  an  atom.  To  create  and  annihilate 
are  two  correlative  operations  which  equally  require 
divine  power,  and  are  absolutely  reserved  to  it.J 

What  would  be  needed  to  annihilate  an  atom?  To 
stay  and  suspend  the  permanent  act  by  which  God  makes 
it  be.  But  what  creature  will  ever  have  such  power? 

*  The  celestial  nature  knows  not  fatigue  nor  labor.  (St.  John  Chrysostom, 
Serra.  75.) 

t  Creation  cannot  be  the  own  proper  act  of  any  but  God.  (St.  Thomas  i.  q.  45, 
art.  5.)  No  angel  can  create  a  nature  any  more  than  he  can  create  himseif. 
(St.  Aug.  de  Genes,  ad  Litt.ram,  1.  9,  c.  15  ;  Suarez,  1.  4,  c.  25.) 

|  As  it  was  in  the  power  of  the  Creator  that  things  should  be,  so  also  was  it  in 
the  power  of  the  Creator  that  they  should  not  be.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  9,  art.  2.) 


/ 


44  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPK 

l 

Even  from  a  substance  already  existing,  we  could  not 
know  how  to  produce  a  new  substance,  as,  for  instance, 
a  plant  or  an  animal.* 

Nor  could  we,  any  more,  change  the  essential  qualities 
of  bodies,  and  make  them  produce  effects  of  which  they 
do  not  contain  the  cause,  f 

By  the  combination  of  elements,  and  the  application 
of  one  thing  to  another,  we  shall  obtain  what  the  virtue 
they  have  received  from  God  is  fitted  to  produce  ;  noth¬ 
ing  more. 

Recurring  to  natural  agents  in  which  God  has  put  a  hid¬ 
den  principle — light,  sound,  color — we  can  astonish  man  by 
prodigies  :  we  could  not  work  miracles,  properly  so  called. 

A  miracle,  being  a  derogation  from  the  natural  order, 
is  wrought  outside  the  laws  of , all  created  nature. J 

Over  the  application  of  these  laws  we  preside  ;  we  can 
make  them  concur  to  the  same  end,  or  put  them  in  oppo¬ 
sition  to  each  other;  but  their  existence  and  their  per¬ 
manency  do  not  depend  on  us  :  it  belongs  not  to  us  to 
suspend  them,  nor  to  change  them.|| 

When  some  striking  miracle  is  wrought,  at  the  voice 
of  an  angel  or  of  a  saint,  it  is  God  who  intervenes  and 
acts  ;  it  is  He  who  obeys  the  voice  of  His  creature,  and 

*  It  is  to  be  said  that  angels  have  not  natural  power  to  produce  any  substance 
even  from  given  matter.  (Suarez,  1.  4,  c.  25,  n.  4.) 

f  Angels  have  no  more  power  to  cause  qualities  in  bodies  than  they  have  to 
educe  substantial  forms  from  matter.  (Suarez,  1.  4,  c.  26.) 

%  A  thing  is  said  to  be  a  miracle  because  it  exceeds  the  whole  order  of  created 
nature.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  110,  art.  4.)  1 

||  When  it  remains  evident  that  only  God  can  work  miracles-.  (St.  Thomas, 
Ibid.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  45 

suspends  the  ordinary  course  of  His  will.* *  Our  minis¬ 
try  is  limited  to  accessory  operations. 

Glory  be  to  the  Creator,  who  alone  has  full  power  over 
His  work,  and  can  give  to  the  elements  what  virtue  He 
pleases  ! 

I  give  thanks  to  Him  for  the  strength  with  which  He 
has  endowed  my  nothingness  ;  hut,  in  my  admiration  and 
love,  I  adore  Him  for  that  which  He  has  reserved  to 
Himself,  and  which  is  called  omnipotence. 

/■ 

*  Josue,  c.  10.  v.  14.  Angels  are  said  to  work  miracles,  because  God  at  their  de¬ 
sire  brings  them  about,  just  as  holy  men  are  said  to  work  them,  or  because 
they  perform  some  service  in  miracles.  (St.  Thomas,  Ibid.) 


I 


46 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


V 


vm. 

PRESENCE. 

Since  our  existence  we  are  present  in  a  place.  How 
could  one  exist  and  be  nowhere?  Place  is  essential  to 
us.  Every  spirit  has  its  place  in  creation.* 

There  are  distances  between  the  spirits  as  between  the 
places  they  occupy,  and  these  distances  would  subsist  even 
though  the  material  world  should  cease  to  be. 

Let  the  material  world,  through  an  act  of  Divine  Power, 
disappear:  the  spirits  who  rejoice  in  heaven,  those  who 
fulfill  their  mission  on  earth,  those  who  are  bound  in  the 
depths  of  hell,  will  preserve  the  respective  distances  that 
separate  them.f 

Simple  by  nature,  we  are  in  a  place  without  being  con¬ 
tained  in  it.  We  do  not  occupy  it  as  bodies  do,  by  ex¬ 
tension  or  quantity.  Our  presence  and  theirs  do  not 
exclude  each  other;  they  can  coexist  in  the  same  place 4 

Man,  too  easily  the  plaything  of  his  imagination,  is  led 
to  conceive  of  our  indivisibility  as  that  of  a  point  in  space. 
He  reduces  thus  the  presence  of  an  angel  to  a  local  point. 
Reflection  must  correct  the  error.  || 

*  All  acknowledge  that  angels  are  some  way  in  space.  (Theologia  Claromont- 
ensis,  c.  2,  art.  3.) 

f  The  distance  between  angels  is  not  founded  on  the  bodies  in  which  they  are, 
but  in  the  proper  and  intrinsic  presence  of  each  angel.  (Suarez,  1.  4,  c.  8,  n.  3. 

t  Suarez,  1.  4,  c.  7,  n.  5. 

||  Some  not  being  able  to  go  beyond  imagination  have  thought  of  the  indivisi¬ 
bility  of  the  angel  as  that  of  a  point,  and  therefore  believed  an  angel  could  only 
be  in  a  single  point  ;  but  they  are  manifestly  deceived.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q,  5,  2-. 
art.  2.) 


r 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  47 

The  place  in  which  we  are  present  is  that  which  the 
virtue  we  are  endowed  with  reaches,  and  upon  which  we 
act.  It  is  determined  by  our  sphere  of  activity  ;  a  greater 
place  corresponds  to  a  greater  sphere,  and  to  greater 
power.* * * § 

The  place  of  every  angel  is  restricted.  God  alone,  by 
His  immensity  and  His  sphere  without  limit,  is  every¬ 
where  at  once  ;  He  possesses  ubiquity.  Like  everything 
that  characterizes  the  Infinite,  that  attribute  is  incommu¬ 
nicable,  f 

I  am  present  wholly  at  every  point  of  the  total  and 
adequate  place  which  my  sphere  includes  ;  but  I  cannot 
naturally  render  myself  present  at  any  point  outside  of 
it.$ 

It  is  thus  that  the  human  soul,  present  at  one  and 
the  same  time  to  every  part  of  the  human  body  it  ani¬ 
mates,  ||  cannot  render  itself  present  to  any  point  outside 
of  it. 

Naturally  it  belongs  to  no  creature  to  be  present  in 
several  places. §  Supernaturally  that  wonder  is  possible. 

It  occurs,  when  it  pleases  God,  for  men  as  for 
angels, 

Men  versed  in  sacred  science  distinguish,  with  reason, 


*  All  that  to  which  is  immediately  applied  the  power  of  an  angel  is  reputed  as 
its  one  place,  though  it  should  not  be  continuous.  (St.  Thomas,  Ibid.) 

t  God  is  not  only  in  several  places,  but  everywhere  ;  an  angel  is  not  in  several 
places,  nor  everywhere,  but  in  one  place  only.  (St.  Thomas,  Ibid.) 

Î  St.  Thomas,  Ibid.  Suarez,  1.  4,  c.  10. 

I  The  soul  is  wholly  everywhere  in  its  body.  (St.  Ambrose,  de  Dignit.  Cond. 
Humanæ,  c.  2.) 

§  Since  an  angel  is  in  place  by  application  of  its  power  to  the  place,  it  follows 
that  it  is  not  everywhere,  nor  in  several  places,  but  in  one  place  only.  (St. 
Thomas,  Ibid.) 

Î  Lines  of  Sit.  F.  of  Attiti,  Peter  of  Alcantara,  Alph.  de  Ligouri. 


V, 


48 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


three  kinds  of  presence,  which  they  call  circumspective, 
definitive,  and  sacramental. 

The  first  is  that  of  a  substance  of  which  the  quality 
corresponds  to  the  quantity  of  the  place  it  occupies,  to  the 
exclusion  of  all  other  place  ;  such  is  the  natural  presence 
of  a  body. 

The  second  is  that  of  a  substance  wholly  in  one  place 
and  in  every  point  of  that  place,  but  not  able  to  be  else¬ 
where  ;  such  is  the  presence  of  the  soul,  and  of  pure 
spirits. 

The  third  is  that  of  a  substance  wholly  in  one  place, 
wholly  in  every  point  of  that  place,  and  able  at  the  same 
time  to  be  elsewhere  ;  such  is  the  presence  of  the  Word 
Incarnate  in  the  Blessed  Eucharist. 

The  place  of  spirits,  universal  and  common  to  them,  is 
the  bosom  of  God. 

The  place  of  God  Himself  is  increated  space,  or  His 
own  immensity. 

Leaving  one  day  the  last  limits  of  the  material  world, 
I  flew  beyond  the  explored  regions.  I  went  further, 
further  again,  still  further  ;  1  reached  a  distance  impossi¬ 
ble  to  measure,  where  all  the  burning  lights  of  creation 
united  would  be  to  the  eye  as  one  spark. 

Directing  my  vision  into  the  depth,  I  saw  not  nothing, 
not  emptiness,  not  night,  but  space  eternal,  luminous, 
full  of  life — infinite  space,  in  which  a  straight  line,  ideally 
prolonged  and  turned  in  every  direction,  finds  no  stop,  no 
end. 

I  fell  upon  my  knees,  and  in  this  solitude,  I  breached 
forth  thus  my  thanksgiving  : 

“  0  immensity  !  adorable  immensity  !  accept  the 
homage  of  a  point  lost  in  Thy  bosom. 

Y  ‘  •  '  ,  -  ' 


/ 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  49 

“  Living  immensity  !  Thou  hast  deigned  to  look  upon 
me  with  a  benevolent  eye,  and  I  have  the  happiness  to 
know  Thee  and  love  Thee. 

“  What  do  I  say  ?  Thou  hast  given  me  Thyself  ;  I 
possess  Thee.  My  empire,  from  then,  is  it  not  like 
Thine  without  boundary,  without  limit,  infinite? 

“  0  immensity  !  living  and  adorable  immensity  !  ’Tis 
Thou,  and  Thou  alone,  that  dost  figure  to  my  eyes  the 
dimensions  of  the  goodness  and  of  the  love  of  my  God.” 

2* 


1 


50 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


IX. 

MOVEMENT. 

Movement  is  a  law  of  spirits  and  of  bodies  ;  nothing  in 
creation  is  immovable. 

In  the  material  world  all  is  motion. 

Minerals  attract  or  repel,  separate  or  unite,  and  tend 
to  continual  displacement. 

The  plant  grows,  raises  itself,  balances  in  the  air  its 
fertile  seeds,  and  entrusts  to  the  wind  its  wandering  off¬ 
spring. 

The  animal  swims  or  creeps,  walks  or  flies,  and  is 
present,  successively,  in  various  places. 

Theatre  of  infinite  movements,  the  earth  itself  is 
carried  through  the  thousand  evolutions  of  the  planets, 
and  goes  without  ever  stopping. 

In  the  spiritual  world  movements  are  more  numerous 
still,  more  varied,  vaster. 

The  human  soul  feels  itself  made  for  motion.  Like 
every  spirit  it  has  its  wings,  and  is  all  desire  to  take  its 
flight. 

In  its  present  condition,  what  obstacles  !  Chained  in 
a  body,  it  is  subject  to  the  law  of  the  body,  and  their 
movements  in  common  are  accomplished  in  low  regions. 

Vainly,  to  withdraw  itself  from  this  fatal  law,  does  it 
appeal  to  all  the  living  forces  of  nature,  borrow  swiftness 
from  the  animals,  chain  to  its  car  the  elements,  and, rapid 
as  they,  make  the  tour  of  its  globe. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  51 

• . 

All  this,  in  its  eyes  as  in  ours,  is  nothing  but  heavi¬ 
ness  and  slowness,  and  does  not  answer  its  aspirations. 

When  will  it  be  given  it  to  go  sit  upon  the  golden- 
edged  cloud,  play  among  the  suns,  traverse  like  an  arrow 
the  firmament,  excel  in  rapidity  the  lightning  itself  ? 

Wbat  thou,  0  my  sister,  so  ardently  desirest,  and  what 
thou  art  powerless  to  realize,  thou  shalt  enjoy  the  day 
when  thy  bonds  shall  be  burst.  Come,  from  this  moment, 
and  admire  and  contemplate  it  in  the  angels. 

To  go  from  one  place  to  another,  we  have  only  to  wish 
it.  Our  movements  are  made  without  effort.  Our  will 
has  not  to  command,  as  that  of  man,  an  inert  substance. 
When  we  wish  to  go  to  any  place,  everything  in  us  is 
activity,  everything  is  motion. 

Our  movement  is  so  rapid  that  neither  the  wind,  nor 
sound,  nor  light,  nor  any  image  taken  from  the  universe 
of  bodies,  can  give  an  idea  of  it.  With  the  closest  atten¬ 
tion,  man  could  not  seize  the  interval  of  time  that  sepa¬ 
rates  the  departure  and  the  arrival.  To  traverse  the 
regions  of  the  stars,  to  go  from  one  extremity  of  the 
firmament  to  the  other,  it  requires  only  the  time  to  say  : 
I  wish.* 

Our  movements  are  not  hindered  nor  retarded  by  any 
exterior  obstacle.  The  densest  matter,  bronze,  iron,  or 
adamant,  offers  us  no  resistance.  Our  movements  are 
made  like  those  of  a  bird  in  thin  air,  and  more  easily 
still.  In  its  flight  the  bird  displaces  the  air  as  it  ad¬ 
vances,  and  glides  between  the  liquid  layers.  The  angel 
neither  treads  down  nor  displaces  anything  through 


*  Every  winged  spirit  ;  angels  and  demons  ;  therefore  they  are  everywhere  in 
a  moment;  the  whole  world  is  their  place.  (Tertull.,  Apologia,  22.) 


i  B0f.T°Zc5Hwi 


/  ■_ _  faculty  library 
I  chestnut  ui>  . 


52  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

which  he  moves.  He  goes,  like  the  ray  through  a 
diaphanous  substance.* 

Finally,  these  movements,  so  complete,  so  rapid,  and  so 
free,  are  in  the  bosom  of  God.  The  bosom  of  God  is  the 
place  of  our  motion  as  of  our  repose.  We  are  always  in 
TIim.f 

What  a  source  of  enjoyment  in  the  power  to  move! 

With  delight  I  mingle  with  the  swarms  of  angels  that 
whirl  through  the  material  creation. 

We  go  through  these  floating  orbs,  sown  in  the  ocean 
of  space  like  so  many  Fortunate  Isles. J 

Darting  far  beyond,  we  arrange  ourselves  in  concentric 
circles,  and  reproduce  the  primitive  sphere  which  ap¬ 
peared  around  chaos. 

In  immense  space  we  go  mounting,  descending,  ap¬ 
proaching  each  other,  then  withdrawing  afar,  describing 
a  thousand  graceful  curves. 

By  these  sublime  plays,  we  honor  and  glorify  the  God 
who  gave  us  our  wings,  the  God — principle  of  all  move¬ 
ment,  as  of  all  repose. 

*  Walls  are  not  an  obstacle  to  angelic  spirits,  but  all  visible  things  yield  to 
them  ;  all  bodies  equally,  no  matter  how  solid  or  thick,  are  to  them  penetrable 
and  pervious.  St.  Bernard,  Horn,  on  Missus  est. 

t  Angels  sent  are  before  God,  because  howsoever  they  come  sent,  they  are 
within  Him.  (St.  Greg.  Naz.,  Horn.  54. 

I  Angels  go  over  all  places,  are  actively  every  where,  both  on  account  of  the 
promptness  of  their  ministry,  and  on  account  of  the  immateriality  of  their  na¬ 
ture.  (St.  Greg.  Naz.  Orat.,  34.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


53 


X. 

FREE  WILL. 

By  the  side  of  our  power  to  act,  or  rather  in  it,  resides 
*  another  faculty  which  reveals  on  the  part  of  the  Creator 
an  admirable  delicacy:  it  is  Free  Will.* 

Are  there  then,  0  Lord!  creatures  whom  Thou  hast 
esteemed  and  loved  to  the  point  of  being  willing  to  con¬ 
stitute  them  free  and  masters  of  themselves?  They  will 
be  able,  at  pleasure,  to  do  an  act  or  not  dq  it,  to  do  it  in 
one  way  or  in  the  opposite.  Hence  their  conduct  will 
show  all  the  variety  which  pleases  them. 

Free  will,  impregnable  citadel,  in  which  no  created 
power  will  be  able  to  force  our  ability  to  act  ! 

Free  will,  mystery  of  condescension,  whose  depths  we 
should  not  be  capable  of  sounding,  but  whose  wonderful 
results  we  admire  ! 

Free  will,  thou  art  the  most  noble  and  the  most  divine 
of  our  gifts,  that  which  elevates  us  the  farthest  above 
inferior  nature,  and  brings  us  closest  to  the  Sovereign 
Being  ! 

’Tis  by  free  will  that  we  have  been  given  over  to  our 
own  keeping;  by  it  we  belong  to  ourselves. 

Could  an  intelligent  creature  have  expected  such  a 
privilege  ?  Could  it  have  conceived  the  possibility  of  it  ? 

*  Wherever  there  is  intelligence  there  is  free  will.  Thus  it  is  evident  that  in 
the  angels  free  will  is  found  in  a  more  excellent  manner  than  in  men.  (St. 
Thomas,  i,  q.  59,  art.  3.)  It  is  of  faith  that  free  will  is  in  the  angel.  (Suarez,  1. 3, 
c.  2,  n.  2.) 


54 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


Would  it  not  have  looked  on  this  gift  as  the  exclusive 
appanage  of -the  Omnipotent? 

In  this,  as  in  a  thousand  others,  0  Lord!  Thou  hast 
done  more  than  we  shall  ever  he  able  to  comprehend. 
In  Thy  infinite  wisdom,  Thou  hast  found  the  secret  of 
uniting  and  putting  in  accord  what  would  have  appeared 
to  us  impossible,  Thy  sovereign  domain  and  our  full  lib¬ 
erty. 

On  the  one  side  Thou  hast  made  us  masters  of  our 
thoughts  and  works;  Thou  hast  given  us  the  initiative 
and  the  responsibility  of  them.  We  see  it,  we  feel  it? 
and  we  have  received  the  assurance  of  it  from  Thy  lips. 

On  the  other  hand,  we  know  that  without  Thy  coopera¬ 
tion  and  impulse  we  should  not  be  able  to  think,  to  act, 
or  to  will  ;  every  initiative  would  become  impossible 
to  us. 

It  is  necessary  in  conferring  upon  us  some  part  of 
Thy  sovereign  domain,  that  Thou  keep  it  intact  for  Thy¬ 
self,  and  in  rendering  us  masters  of  ourselves,  Thou  re¬ 
main  absolute  Lord  of  us. 

Our  wills  are  like  so  many  birds  of  rapid  flight,  which 
the  hunter  has  started.  They  have  free  play  in  the  for¬ 
ests  or  fields,  in  the  light  and  in  the  azure  vault.  But 
the  One  who  has  said,  “  Leave,  fly,”  preserves  the  wonder¬ 
ful  power  to  regulate  at  his  pleasure  their  capricious 
windings,  and  trace  for  them  in  the  air  the  way  from 
which  none  is  to  wander. 

Through  unforseen  events,  and  the  vicissitudes  which 
are  the  results  of  freedom  of  will,  and  constitute  the  his¬ 
tory  of  angels  and  o.f  man,  God  has  never  ceased  to  hold 
the  thread  that  guides,  and  to  make  everything  concur  to 
the  designs  of  His  justice  and  of  His  goodness — in  a 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  55 

word,  to  bring  everything  back  to  the  vast  plan  of  His 
providence. 

I  know  that  in  giving  us  a  proof  of  our  excellence, 
free  will  reveals  to  us  at  the  same  time  a  deplorable 
imperfection  :  it  is  not  only  the  power  to  choose  between 
different  good  things  ;  it  is,  alas  !  that  of  choosing  good 
or  evil. 

But  in  this  imperfect  freedom  of  the  will  there  is  a  way 
of  transforming  it  wholly  into  a  privilege.  The  power  to 
do  evil  may  become  for  me  a  precious  treasure  ;  I  have 
only  to  put  it  in  the  hands  of  Him  who  gave  it  to  me, 
and  say  to  him  : 

“For  love  of  Thee,  0  my  God!  and  for  my  salvation, 
I  in  my  turn  entrust  it  to  Thee.  Rule  my  will,  and 
keep  it  always  united  to  what  is  good.  Led  by  Thee  in 
my  choice,  I  shall  not  be  less  free  ;  I  shall  possess  a 
greater  liberty,  and  shall  enjoy  it  the  more  fully.  I 
have  chosen  to  be  thus  guided  by  Thee  ;  I  have  earnestly 
desired  it;  I  have  solicited  it  as  a  favor.” 

What  an  offering  to  God  of  free  will,  noble,  fertile  in 
good,  incomparable,  containing  within  it  every  sacrifice, 
all  wisdom,  every  excellent  dower! 

Yes,  this  faculty  of  choosing  ill,  in  itself  so  great  an 
imperfection,  and  which  will  be  for  many  a  dangerous 
temptation  not  only,  but  a  source  of  evils  and  of  misfor¬ 
tunes,  my  offering  will  change  into  a  perfection  ;  it  will 
mal^e  it  an  instrument  of  virtue  and  of  merit,  a  means  of 
elevating  me  higher  in  glory,  a  subject  of  eternal  bene¬ 
diction  to  my  Creator. 

* 


I 


56  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


XI. 

THE  SECRETS  OF  THE  HEART. 

Just  as  in  the  case  of  free  will,  God  has  granted  me  a 
power  that  nothing  could  overcome,  subject  to  Him 
alone  ;  so  has  He  reserved  in  the  bottom  of  my  heart  a 
secret  place,  into  which  the  eye  of  no  creature  can  pene¬ 
trate,  without  my  consent.* 

Magnificent  privilege,  with  which  man  too  will  be 
honored  as  the  angel  is  ! 

As  long  as  man  does  not  manifest  by  any  exterior  sign 
his  intimate  sentiments,  and  he  has  not  the  will  to  make 
them  kno\ym,  no  creature  will  he  able  to  filch  from  him 
his  secret. 

It  belongs  to  God  to  read  the  depths  of  the  heart 
which  He  has  created,  and  penetrate  its  mysteries. 

In  creating  us,  God  did  not  will  to  place  before  His 
vision  an  obstacle,  to  put  up  a  mechanism  the  play  of 
which  should  escape  Him,  to  make  exist  in  the  bosom  of 
His  light  a  dark  point. 

Essential  to  an  Infinite  Being,  this  knowledge  of  the 
heart  is  exclusivèly  reserved  to  Hirn.f 

The  Incarnate  Word  will  discover,  one  day,  the  hidden 
designs  of  the  Pharisees;  the  most  cunning  men  will  see 

*  What  depends  on  the  will  alone,  or  what  is  in  the  will  alone,  is  known  only  to 
God.  (St.  Thomas,  i.  q.  57,  art.  4.) 

f  No  one  can  see  the  mind  of  another  except  God  alone.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q. 
107,  art.  1.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  57 

in  this  the  proof  that  He  possesses  divine  knowledge,  and 
that  He  is  God.* 

Satan  will  vainly  make  the  tour  of  the  world,  and  go 
through  it  in  every  direction  :  he  will  see  events  in  which 
the  gatherings  of  men  take  part  ;  he  will  be  a  witness  of 
the  works  men  do  ;  but  nothing  of  what  takes  place  in  the 
interior  of  the  heart  will  strike  his  gaze.f 

Let  legions  of  devils  press  around  me;  let  them  burn 
to  know  what  goes  on  within  me  ;  let  them  fix  on  my 
heart  their  scrutinizing  and  jealous  eyes. 

These  subtle  spirits  have  seen  unveiled  the  laws  of  the 
universe,  seized  the  combinations  of  the  winds,  sounded 
the  depths  of  creation; — arrived  before  the  unknown 
abyss  of  my  nature,  they  must  stop. 

The  secret  will  he  there,  near  them,  before  them, 
under  their  hand,  and  always  inaccessible,  always  invisi¬ 
ble,  it  will  escape  them  ever.'  My  secret  is  for  me 
alone — -my  secret  is  for  me  alone.  J 

Let  the  more  penetrating  but  more  kindly  eye  of  the 
angel  be  fixed  on  me  likewise  :  against  my  will,  it  shall 
not  any  more  fathom  the  secret  of  my  heart. 

Natural  perspicacity  of  vision,  great  attention,  long 
experience,  nothing  will  suffice. 

What  do  I  say?  Even  the  light  of  glory,  which  to  the 
eyes  of  the  elect  illumines  such  great  and  deep  mysteries, 
will  not  penetrate  that  far.  God  has  willed  that  His  gift 

*  The  Lord,  seeing  their  thoughts,  shews  Himself  God.  (St.  Jerome,  on  St. 
Math.  c.  ix.) 

f  Seeing  all  that  is  wrought,  not  knowing  however  what  goes  on  in  the  heart. 
(Origen,  L  1,  on  Job.) 

J  Isaias  c.  24,  v.  16.  The  hearts  of  others  are  closed  to  human  and  angelic  eyes. 
(St.  Gregory,  Morals,  1.  25,  c.  7.) 


58 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


should  be  complete  and  without  exception  :  for  heaven 
as  for  earth,  my  heart  will  be  a  domain  ever  reserved. 

This  domain  of  my  heart  is  therefore  truly  inviolable 
and  sacred:  no  one,  without  my  consent,  can  cross  its 
boundary. 

When  an  angel,  or  one  of  the  elect,  will  come  to  visit 
it,  it  will  be  because  I  shall  have  of  my  own  accord  opened 
the  door.  Ever  shall  I  be  pleased  to  do  the  honors  of  a 
sojourn,  the  only  one  in  which  I  am  absolutely  master, 
to  the  elect  and  to  the  angels. 

What  joy  to  know  that  there  is  one  point  of  creation 
which  is  common  to  God  alone  and  myself;  a  sanctuary 
in  which  only  God  will  be  present  with  me,  in  which  I 
shall  he  able  at  any  hour  when  I  please  to  commune 
with  Him,  without  intermediary  or  witness  ! 

0  God!  how  admirable  Thou  art  towards  Thy  intelli¬ 
gent  creature  !  With  what  delicacy  and  dignity  dost  Thou 
treat  him  !  Thou  art  inexhaustible  in  the  means  Thou 
dost  employ  to  give  him  a  noble  idea  of  himself,  and  to 
bind  him  to  Thee  by  the  most  loving  thoughtfulness. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


59 


XII. 

•  » 

LANGUAGE. 

God,  who  has  endowed  us  with  the  privilege  of  being 
able  to  keep  the  secret  of  our  hearts,  has  bestowed  the 
no  less  precious  means  of  manifesting  it  at  will,  in  making 
mutual  revelations,  in  communicating  to  each  other  our 
thoughts  and  feelings  :  that  means  is  language. 

God  speaks  to  Himself  by  His  interior  Word;  He 
speaks  to  us,  when  He  enlightens  us  and  reveals  to  us 
His  thoughts. 

In  our  turn  we  speak  to  God,  not  to  make  revelations 
to  Him,  but  to  ask  Him  His  will,  and  express  to  Him  our 
admiration  at  the  sight  of  His  works  and  of  His  magnifi¬ 
cence.* 

The  language  we  have  received  from  God  differs  es¬ 
sentially  from  that  of  men.  Our  will  alone,  without  any 
exterior  or  borrowed  means,  is  enough  to  manifest  what 
takes  place  in  us.  When  I  wish  to  make  known  my  mind 
to  a  spirit,  that  direction  of  my  will  is  speech  he  under¬ 
stands.! 

Our  language  is  therefore  a  pure  act  of  intelligence, 
and  of  will,  by  which  we  communicate  our  interior  se¬ 
crets  and  intentions.  Our  angelic  colloquies  are 

*  An  angel  speaks  to  God,  by  consulting  His  divine  will  about  what  is  to  be 
done,  or  by  admiring  His  excellence  which  he  never  comprehends.  (St.  Thomas, 
i,  q.  107,  art.  3.) 

f  The  concept  of  the  angelic  mind  is  put  in  relation  to  another  by  the  will. 
(St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  107,  art.  1.) 


60 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


naught  but  the  interchange  of  these  voluntary  communi¬ 
cations. 

There  is  a  difference  between  simple  language  and 
illumination. 

Illumination  is  manifestation  made  by  one  angel  to  an¬ 
other  of  a  reality  dependent  on  the  first  truth,  and  be¬ 
longing  to  the  treasury  of  eternal  truths.  It  ornaments 
and  perfects  the  one  receiving  it. 

Simple  language  is  the  manifestation  of  the  will,  sub¬ 
ject  only  to  him  who  expresses  what  he  desires.  It  does 
not  at  all  produce  in  the  intelligence  the  same  effect  as 
illumination.  An  angel  speaks  to  his  superiors  ;  he  illu¬ 
mines  only  his  inferiors.* 

Knowledge  resulting  from  our  words  is  never  incom¬ 
plete.  The  idea  is  seen  in  all  its  light  and  in  an  adequate 
manner.  Our  language  is  pure  simplicity.  It  has  the 
perfection  office,  producing  the  object  without  alteration, 
and  disappearing  itself.  It  gives  rise  neither  to  illusion 
nor  to  error. 

What  shall  I  say  of  its  energetic  brevity  ?  Men  have 
regretted  not  being  able  to  put  a  book  in  a  page,  a  page 
in  a  phrase,  a  phrase  in  a  word.  It  is  reserved  to  the 
language  of  angels  to  make  this  wonder  real. 

Our  language  is  tied  down  to  the  conditions  of  neither 
time  nor  space.  The  least  instant  suffices  for  our  revela¬ 
tions,  and  the  greatest  distance  does  not  prevent  our  be¬ 
ing  heard.f 

The  angel  to  whom  I  address  myself  alone  hears  me. 

♦Those  superior  speak  to  the  inferior,  the  inferior  to  the  superior.  (St. 
Thomas,  Ibid,  art.  2.)  The  inferior  angels  never  illumine  the  superior.  (Ibid,  q. 
106,  art.  3.) 

t  In  speech  of  angels  distance  is  no  impediment.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  107,  art.  3. 
8uarez,  1.  2,  c.  28,  n,  14.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  61 

None  of  the  rest  seizes  my  words.*  But  I  can  address 
several  at  once.j* 

It  is  thus  that  the  separated  souls  commune  with  each 
other  and  with  us.  They  converse  in  the  language  of 
angels.  Their  will  and  their  desires  are  their  expressions 
and  their  words. $ 

As  long  as  souls  are  united  to  bodies,  such  a  language 
is  impossible.  We  cannot  ourselves  communicate  with 
them,  except  by  striking  the  air  and  thus  producing 
sound. || 

If  it  happen  that  we  speak  to  some  privileged  Souls 
without  the  intermediary  of  sense,  it  is  because  these 
souls  are  miraculously  elevated  above  the  ordinary  con¬ 
ditions  of  nature  and  of  grace.  Such  exceptions  are  rare, 
and  do  not  occur  except  in  the  midst  of  a  rapture  or 
ecstacy. 

In  the  conversation  of  the  angels  every  word  is  exqui¬ 
site.  Like  the  sentences  of  the  wise  man,  their  fraternal 
outpourings  are  like  apples  of  gold  in  baskets  of  silver. § 

When  they  speak  together  it  is  to  present  in  common 
what  is  good  in  each  individual.  Each  one  enjoys  his 
treasure,  and  it  is  from  love  of  all  that  each  one  brings 
forward  the  divine  gifts  that  are  in  him.  These  gifts  are 
infinitely  varied.  As  many  as  are  the  angels,  so  many 
too  are  the  ways  of  thinking  and  acting. 

*  When  angels  speak  to  each  other,  one  may  hear  without  others  hearing. 
(St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  107,  art.  5.) 

f  It  is  clear  one  angel  can  speak  to  several  at  once.  (Suarez,  1.  2,  c.  28,  n.  20.) 

J  The  words  of  the  angels  are  their  desires.  (St.  Gregory,  Morals,  1.  2,  c.  15.) 
They  acknowledge  that  an  angel  can  speak  to  a  separated  soul  after  the  manner 
of  angels.  (Suarez,  1.  2,  c.  28,  n.  69.) 

I 

||  We  say  an  angel  cannot  speak  to  a  soul  joined  to  a  body  with  merely  spirit¬ 
ual  speech.  (Suarez,  Ibid.) 

I  Proverbs,  c.  25,  v.  11. 


62 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


The  discourses  of  the  angels  are  not  like  those  of  men, 
the  perpetual  repetition  of  things  already  known.  Every 
word  that  comes  out  of  their  mouth  contains  some  beauti¬ 
ful  reality  hitherto  latent  in  their  heart  ;  it  is  always  the 
same  rivulet,  always  new  water. 

Who  could,  with  human  elements,  explain  the  magnifi¬ 
cence  of  angelic  language  ?  Who  could  tell  the  wonders 
it  works  in  us?  More  intimate  knowledge,  sweeter  joy, 
more  heartfelt  charity,  closer  union,  more  living  associa¬ 
tions  ! 

Through  the  ages,  what  human  sounds  will  strike  the 
air!  What  studied  expressions  will  be  laid  up  in  the 
cases  of  libraries?  But  what  is  beautiful  language  for 
man,  is  not  always  such  for  the  angels. 

No  language  is  rich  or  beautiful  if  it  be  not  accompan¬ 
ied  by  what  it  represents.  And  who  does  not  know  how 
far  it  is  among  men,  often,  from  the  fine  phrase  to  the 
good  action,  from  elegance  of  style  to  holiness  of  life  ? 

When  we  find,  in  the  orator  or  writer,  excellence  of 
word  upheld  by  worth  of  deed,  then  only  we  recognize  a 
reflex  of  angelic  language. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


63 


XIII. 

LOVE. 

Among  God’s  creatures  I  see  some  tend  to  their  end 
by  an  impulse  given  them,  as  an  arrow  that  flies  ;  others 
by  a  movement  that  is  their  own,  but  unconsciously,  as  a 
stone  that  falls  ;  others  by  a  movement  that  is  their  own, 
and  consciously,  but  without  reflection,  like  a  deer  which 
runs  to  the  source  of  waters  ;  others,  finally,  by  a  move¬ 
ment  their  own  and  spontaneous,  with  knowledge,  con¬ 
science  and  reflection:  these  are  intelligent  creatures, 
souls  and  pure  spirits.* * 

At  the  sight  of  our  end  and  of  the  results  of  our  elec¬ 
tion,  we  experience  an  attraction  which  solicits  our  will, 
and  aids  it  to  direct  itself:  it  is  the  revelation  of  a  new 
faculty  ;  it  is  the  attraction  of  love  ;  it  is  the  faculty  of 
loving.f  , 

Our  will  has  been  created  free,  but  not  indifferent.  It 
is  affected  by  what  is  presented  to  it  under  a  beautiful 
aspect.  In  presence  of  what  is  good,  it  experiences  an 
agreeable  impression,  and  feels  itself  drawn  to  it. 

This  delightful  attraction  is  the  awakening  of  love  ; 
the  free  movement  of  the  will  '  that  gives  itself  up  to  it, 
is  its  action.  By  complacency  in  the  loved  object,  the 

*  It  is  to  be  considered  that  since  all  things  proceed  from  the  divine  will,  every¬ 
thing  in  its  way  by  appetite  inclines  to  good,  but  differently.  For  some,  etc.  (St. 
Thomas,  i,  q.  59,  art.  1.) 

*  Natural  love  is  nothing  more  than  the  inclination  Of  nature  given  by  the 
Author  of  nature.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  60,  art.  1.) 


64 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


heart  extends  its  wings;  by  love  it  takes  its  flight  to¬ 
wards  it.* 

The  term  of  love  comprises  the  mutual  gift  of  two 
objects  loving  each  other,  and  the  reciprocal  possession 
of  the  two  loved  objects.  These  correlative  operations 
are  accomplished  by  union. 

God,  knowing  Himself,  in  the  splendor  of  His  full 
light,  is  both  subject  and  object,  at  the  same  time  gift 
and  possession.  In  Him  is  consummated  perfect  union, 
the  term  of  perfect  love. 

In  adorning  His  creatures  with  His  own  amiability, 
He  has  rendered  them  the  object  of  His  love.  His  pre¬ 
ference  for  them  is  in  proportion  to  the  attributes  He 
has  bestowed  upon  them,  and  He  tends  to  union  with 
them  in  like  degree. 

By  the  sweet  inclination  He  has  given  to  our  will,  God 
solicits  its  determination  and  its  choice  ;  He  invites  us  to 
love  Him  for  Himself,  and  to  love  His  creatures  in  Him 
and  on  account  of  Him. 

Behold  us,  therefore,  in  union  with  the  preferences  of 
God!  We  feel  ourselves  attracted  above  our  surround¬ 
ings,  above  ourselves;  we  aspire  to  a  perfection  ever 
higher  ;  we  wish  to  be  united  to  sovereign  perfection. 

Splendid  testimony  of  the  nobility  of  our  origin,  of  the 
excellence  of  our  nature,  of  the  sublimity  of  our  end! 

The  loadstone  attracts  pure  iron,  but  remains  inactive 
before  gross  scoria.  The  bee  flies  to  the  perfumed 
flower,  but  keeps  far  away  from  a  source  of  infection. 
The  eagle  hovers  over  serene  heights,  but  avoids  the 
low  places  that  please  the  reptiles. 


*  St.  Francis  do  Sales,  Treatise  on  the  Love  of  God,  1. 1,  c.  7. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


65 


From  the  faculty  of  loving,  as  from  an  inexhaustible 
source,  will  proceed  the  ardor  and  the  transports  of  the 
angels.  To  this  faculty  will  be  due  the  attraction,  the 
movement,  the  unison,  which  make  the  life  of  the  spiritual 
world,  and  of  which  we  shall  soon  give  the  history. 

What  ravishes  me  now,  what  lights  up  in  all  my  facul¬ 
ties  as  a  divine  fire,  is  that  I  receive  in  myself  such  im¬ 
pressions  and  such  images  ;  that  I  experience  the  perpet¬ 
ual  need  of  making  rise  upward  from  the  depth  of  my 
heart  to  the  height  of  the  divine  Heart  all  the  favors  of 
which  I  am  the  object  ;  it  is  not  to  be  able  to  fix  my  gaze 
on  the  divine  excellence  without  experiencing  an  irresist¬ 
ible  power  ;  it  is,  finally,  that  my  Creator  Himself  ex¬ 
cites  my  eager  tendencies  to  Him,  and  deigns  to  offer  me 
the  union  of  His  sovereign  perfection  with  my  nothing¬ 
ness. 

Thanks  to  the  power  to  love,  I  shall  be  able,  0  my 
God  !  to  fulfill  the  sublime  functions  Thou  hast  assigned 
me,  in  the  first  rank  of  Thy  creatures,  at  the  head  of  the 
highest  hierarchy  of  Thy  angels,  in  the  burning  choir  of 

Thy  Seraphim. 

3 


66 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


I 

♦ 

XIV. 

IMMORTALITY. 

To  crown  the  outpourings  of  His  goodness  in  our  na¬ 
ture,  He  has  marked  it  with  a  seal  that  is  indelible  :  He 
has  created  us  immortal.* 

We  are  not  essentially  immortal;  we  are  such  by  the 
favor  of  God.  We  owe  our  immortality  to  a  positive  act 
of  His  will.  The  ray  shines  by  virtue  of  its  source,  not 
of  itself. f 

God  alone  possesses  in  Himself  the  principle  of  being, 
and  consequently  of  immortality.  The  indestructible 
germ  of  life,  which  we  carry  in  us,  was  freely  placed 
there  by  the  hand  of  our  Creator.^ 

Our  nature,  as  God  has  made  it,  does  not  give  the 
least  cause  for  destruction. 

Not  depending  on  the  union  of  two  substances,  as  that 
of  man,  our  life  will  eternally  remain  outside  of  and 
above  all  the  efforts  of  death. || 

We  cannot  cease  to  be  by  the  corruption  and  separa- 

*  That  they  are  immortal  we  hold  by  faith.  (St.  Bernard,  De  Consid .,  1.  5,  c.  4. 
Suarez,  1. 1,  c.  9,  n.  2). 

f  Did  He  withdraw  His  action  from  them,  they  would  be  reduced  to  nothing. 
(St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  9,  art.  2.) 

J  Only  God  has  immortality,  because  He  has  it  by  nature,  not  by  favor.  (St. 
Jerome,  against  JPelagius,  Dialogue  2.) 

||  What  has  no  body,  that  is  possessed  of  reason  and  is  immortal.  (St.  John 
Damascene,  1.  De  Decret,  et  Placit.,  c.  7.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  67 

tion  of  atoms,  like  the  human  body,  for  our  nature  is 
simple,  without  parts  composing  it.* 

We  cannot  be  annihilated  by  any  cause  distinct  from 
God,  for  to  annihilate,  as  to  create,  surpasses  equally  the 
power  of  anything  created. f 

For  this  reason,  we  could  not  destroy  ourselves,  had 
we  even,  which  is  impossible,  the  will  to  do  so. 

Against  all  divine  decree  of  our  annihilation,  we  have 
the  divine  decree  of  our  immortality. J 

God’s  attributes  are  the  highest  protest  against  the 
annihilation  of  men  and  angels. 

Wisdom  Divine,  that  proposest  ever  to  Thyself  an  end, 
and  usest  always  means  worthy  of  Thee  ! — in  calling  into 
being  all  these  pure  spirits,  in  adorning  them  with  Thy 
gifts,  in  causing  Thy  image  to  shine  in  them,  in  beauti¬ 
fying  them  as  Thy  master-piece,  couldst  Thou  have 
labored  only  for  nothingness,  to  have  Thy  work  disap¬ 
pear? 

Justice  Divine,  to  whom  it  belongs  to  render  to  each 
one  according  to  his  works  ! — after  having  received  our 
benediction  and  our  praise,  our  fealty  and  our  devotion, 
our  adoration  and  our  love,  couldst  Thou  open  beneath 
our  feet  the  abyss,  there  .where  Thou  dost  show  unto  us  a 
crown  ? 

Truth  divine,  who  hast  placed  in  us  irresistible  as¬ 
pirations  to  a  life  without  end  ! — in  assigning  to  us  an  aim, 
in  pressing  us  to  tend  toward  it,  couldst  Thou  leave  us 

*  The  angel  is  not  capable  of  such  corruption  on  the  part  of  any  power,  even 
of  God.  (Suarez,  1. 1,  c.  9,  n.  4.) 

f  In  whose  power  is  being  and  not  being.  (St.  Thomas,  i.  q.  9,  art.  2,) 

I  Ps.  148,  v.  6.  That  is,  this  decree  will  not  vanish  into  air.  ( Bellarmin ,  on  this 
place.)  All  the  citizens  in  it  will  be  immortal.  The  omnipotent  God  its  founder, 
will  do  this.  He  has  promised,  and  He  cannot  lie.  (St.  Augustin,  City  of  God, 
1.  22,  c.  1.) 


I 


68  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

in  the  impossibility  of  reaching  it,  cruelly  diverting  Thy¬ 
self  in  deceiving  us?  r 

Goodness  divine,  who  dost  naturally  communicate 
Thyself  outwardly,  and  make  happy  the  beings  that  ap¬ 
proach  to  Thee  ! — wouldst  Thou  at  first  have  rejoiced  us 
with  Thy  smile  and  crowned  us  with  Thy  love,  only  to 
dash  to  pieces  all  at  once  such  a  beautiful  destiny? 

Yes,  oh  my  God!  I  see  in  every  one  of  Thy  perfec¬ 
tions  the  sure  pledge  of  my  immortality  ;  to  each  I  owe 
my  thanksgiving. 

But,  wonderful  harmony,  this  thanksgiving,  in  turn, 
and  Thy  glory  itself,  demand  in  me  a  life  without  end! 

It  is  not  without  an  intention  worthy  of  Him,  that  the 
Divine  Painter  has  laid  the  richest  tints  of  His  brush,  the 
master-pieces  of  His  intellect  and  heart,  not  upon  a 
canvas  coarse  and  frail  as  the  material  universe,  but 
upon  a  texture  as  delicate  and  lasting  as  the  nature  of 
souls  and  of  pure  spirits. 

In  seeing  them  the  Creator  will  rejoice  eternally  at  the 
work  He  has  done,  and  will  contemplate  His  most  bril¬ 
liant  image.  Eternally,  on  their  part,  will  our  faculties 
and  our  nature  tell  of  His  goodness  and  of  His  love. 

Immortality,  benefit  upon  which  all  the  other  benefits 
rest,  and  which  makes  them  lasting  ;  thou  art  eternity 
itself,  as  far  as  that  can  be  given  to  a  creature.  To  Thee 
alone  shall  we  be  debtors  for  the  consummation  of  our 
gratitude  towards  our  Divine  Benefactor! 


i 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


69 


XT. 

NOURISHMENT. 

In  the  lower  order  of  beings,  what  is  life  ? — a  perpetual 
struggle  with  death.  These  creatures  escape  death  only 
by  assimilating  a  nourishment  which  repairs  the  renewed 
losses  of  each  day. 

All  vegetable  and  animal  life  is  due  to  the  action  of  an 
aliment.  The  carpet  of  verdure  on  the  hill-side,  the  tuft 
of  flowers  in  the  rocky  crevice,  the  fresh  oasis  in  the  midst 
of  the  desert,  reveal  the  presence  of  the  spring.  The  colos¬ 
sus  that  leaves  his  impression  on  the  earth  by  his  weight, 
the  insect  that  the  petal  of  a.  dower  finds  light,  have  only 
attained  their  proportions,  and  preserve  them,  by  partici¬ 
pating  in  a  grand  banquet  served  to  living  beings  by 
Providence. 

Spirits  have  no  need  of  the  gross  aliments  that  nour¬ 
ish  and  sustain  bodies.  They  are  not  condemned  to  draw 
from  a  perishable  source  the  principle  of  an  ephemeral 
life.  Their  life  is  too  far  above  such  a  life  as  that. 

They  would  not,  however,  be  able  to  suffice  for  them¬ 
selves,  and  dispense  with  all  aliment.*  God  alone,  bear¬ 
ing  in  Himself  life,  has  no  need  of  a  principle  outside  of 
His  nature. 

•  / 

The  superior  life  the  angels  enjoy,  their  beauty,  their 

*  Angels  are  not  sufficient  to  themselves,  but  need  intelligible  food.  (Origen, 
on  St.  John.) 


70 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


vigor,  their  youth,  their  immortality,  come  from  a  source 
that  has  nothing  material. 

Raphael  said  to  Tobias:  “It  seemed  to  you  that  I  ate 
and  drank  with  you  ;  but  I  am  nourished  with  an  invisi¬ 
ble  food,  and  make  use  of  a  beverage  that  cannot  be  seen 
of  men.”* 

This  aliment  of  spirits,  this  bread  of  angels,  this  meat, 
this  drink,  all  invisible,  are  life  by  essence,  the  truth,  the 
Word  of  God,  God  Himself,  f 

Without  this  nourishment  the  angels  could  not  subsist. 
Thought  is  a  ray  ;  without  the  ray  there  is  no  thought  ; 
without  thought  there  is  no  intellectual  life  ;  without  in¬ 
tellectual  life  there  is  no  spirit,  no  angel. 

The  devils  themselves,  though  lying  spirits  of  error, 
need  something  of  divine  light  to  subsist  in  the  midst  of 
their  darkness.  These  starving  beings  stand  in  need  of 
some  crumbs  from  the  feast  of  intellects. 

Like  us,  the  human  soul  finds  its  food  in  the  Word  of 
God.  Therefore  is  it  immortal  as  we.  Taking  unto  it¬ 
self  the  incorruptible,  it  bears  within  it  incorruptibility, 
and  sees  its  existence  bound  up  wfith  the  very  being  of 
the  Word.  J 

The  continual  participation  in  this  divine  aliment  pro 
duces  the  continual  flowering  of  our  natural  perfections. 
The  magnificent  outpourings  of  divine  goodness  in  our 


*  Tobias,  c.  12,  v.  19.  That  is,  God  and  the  vision  and  fruition  of  God  is  the 
food  of  angels,  by  which  they  are  filled  with  delight  and  made  perpetually  happy. 
(Corn,  a  Lapide,  on  this  passage.) 

f  God  Himself  is,  as  it  were,  their  life  and  common  food.  (St.  Aug.,  City  of 
God,  1.  22,  c.  1.) 

Î  Who  is  truly  the  food  of  angels,  whom,  being  incorruptible,  the  Word  of  God 
feeds  in  an  incorruptible  manner.  (St.  Aug.  on  77  Ps.)  Angels  and  human 
souls,  from  the  fact  that  they  have  a  nature  by  which  they  are  capable  of  know¬ 
ing  truth,  are  incorruptible.  (St.  Thomas,  i.,  q.  61,  art.  20.), 


71 


\ 

MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

nature  will  never  have  an  end.  They  will  continue 
eternally,  by  reason  of  the  eternal  continuation  of  the 
divine  life  which  is  communicated  to  that  nature. 

I  would  willingly  say  that  we  are  perpetual  emanations 
from  the  divine  nature  ;  but  it  would  be  necessary  to  un¬ 
derstand  this  term  in  the  pure  and  simple  meaning  of  our 
disciples  on  earth,  and  not  in  the  gross  and  false  sense  of 
heretical  pantheists.* 

Immortal  flames  of  divine  fire,  verdant  branches  of  a 
divine  stem,  inexhaustible  perfume  of  an  eternal  flower  ; 
continued  beat  of  a  heart  that  gives  life,  rays  always 
brilliant  of  an  unfailing  sun,  fount  always  flowing  from  \ 
the  bosom  of  the  adorable  Trinity,  perpetual  smiles  of  a 
God  eternally  good  ! 

Behold,  as  far  as  material  figures  can  express  spiritual 
realities,  what  we  are  in  the  sight  of  God.  Divine  Word, 
principle  of  my  existence,  of  my  life,  of  my  immortality, 
after  having  created  me,  Thou  hast  in  no  way  withdrawn 
from  me  ;  Thou  hast  remained  to  sustain  me.f 

0  how  much  more  gratitude  do  I  not  owe  Thee  for 
this  conservation  than  for  my  creation,  for  it  is  my  crea¬ 
tion  itself  continued,  made  perpetual,  eternalized  ! 

*  On  the  manner  of  emanation  of  things  from  the  first  principle.  (St.  Thomas 
L,  q.  45.) 

f  He  did  not  make  and  go  away.  (St.  Aug.,  Confess.,  1.  4,  c.  12.) 

'  >  '  %  •  *  '•*- 

\  ’ 


i 


/ 


72  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

'  v  '  \ 


XVI. 

ORNAMENT  OF  THE  UNIVERSE. 

In  the  scale  of  perfection,  the  two  classes  of  natures 
God  has  produced  are  immensely  distant  one  from  the 
other.  That  of  the  spirits  has  nothing  above  it  but  the 
infinite  nature  of  their  Author  ;  that  of  bodies  is  below  all, 
and  borders  on  nothingness.* 

The  pure  spirits,  with  their  admirable  privileges,  are 
the  honor  and  ornament  of  the  universe.  They  were 
necessary  to  creation  to  make  it  worthy  of  God.  To  re¬ 
flect  the  Divine  Image  the  muddy  waters  of  this  nether 
world  would  not  have  sufficed  ;  the  limpidity  of  the 
angelic  world  was  needful. f 

Bodies  alone,  with  their  forms  however  delicate  or 
grandiose,  with  their  varieties  and  their  brilliant  colors, 
what  would  they  have  been  but  a  blind,  inert  mass  of 
dust  ? 

The  angels  absent,  what  would  be  those  spheres  and 
orbs  that  move  in  space  ?  Earth  without  a  firmament, 
suns  without  rays,  theatres  without  spectators,  creatures 
unconscious  of  themselves,  without  knowledge  of  their 
end. 

*  After  God  we  know  angels.  (Tertull.,  on  the  Flesh  of  Christ,  6.)  One  next  to 
Thee,  the  other  almost  nothing;  one  to  which  Thou  art  superior;  the  other  to 
which  nothing  would  be  inferior.  (St.  Aug.,  Confess.,  1.  12,  c.  7.) 

f  It  is  necessary  to  admit  that  some  creatures  are  incorporeal:  for  what  God 
especially  intends  in  created  things  is  the  good  which  consists  in  resemblance  to 
God.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  50,  art.  1.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


73 


'  Sombre  and  heavy  horizon  !  or  rather  complete  ab¬ 
sence  of  horizon,  thick  darkness,  frightful  night  in  all 
the  extent  of  created  space  ! 

What  the  perfume  is  to  the  flower,  verdure  to  the 
meadow,  the  voice  to  a  bird,  the  soul  to  the  body, 
that  the  angels  are  to  the  universe.  By  the  power  of 
the  angels,  everything  knows  and  admires,  loves  and 
glorifies,  sings  and  blesses  its  Creator.* 

The  soul  of  man  takes  part  in  this  ministry  and  its 
duties  ;  but  it  could  not  supply  the  part  of  the  angels. 

The  Soul  has  periods  of  forced  intermittence.  Barely 
does  the  heart  continue  to  watch  when  the  senses  suc¬ 
cumb. 

When  everything  on  earth  is  plunged  in  sleep,  who 
then  will  continue  to  sing  the  glory  of  God  ?  Who 
will  tell  again  the  mysterious  poems  sacred  to  the 
night ?f  The  stars?  Without  doubt,  but  not’ alone. 

The  stars  always  need  intelligent  beings  and  hearts 
to  accompany  them.  Alone  they  would  remain  blind, 
insensible,  mute  ;  they  would  not  chant  any  more  ; 
praise  would  have  ceased  in  the  universe.^ 

Connected  on  the  other  hand  with  the  destiny  of  the 
body,  the  soul  is  confined  to  a  narrow  sphere.  It  can¬ 
not  reach  the  limits  of  the  material  world,  and  could 
not  lend  its  voice  to  the  least  part  of  creation. 

Finally,  without  the  angels,  the  masterpiece  of  divine 

*  Angels  are  truly  the  flowers  of  the  universe,  because  it  is  illumined  by  their 
brilliancy.  (St.  Ambrose,  and  St.  Luke,  c.  12.) 

f  Job.,  c.  35,  v.  10. 

X  The  ineffable  majesty  of  God  sbines  more  brilliantly  while  the  angels  sing  it 
in  the  darkness  of  the  night.  Oh  !  obscurity  of  night,  fit  and  the  more  to  be 
sought  for  the  praise  of  God  by  the  angels  !  (Vivien,  on  St.  Michael.) 


74 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


wisdom  would  have  been  reduced  to  the  proportions  of 
an  incomplete  work.* 

J ust  as  below  man  there  were  to  he  natures  purely 
corporeal,  it  was  fitting  that  above  him  there  should  be 
placed  natures  purely  spiritual. f 

It  is  due  to  the  angels  that  the  divine  work  appears 
in  the  proportions  and  the  equilibrium  which  make  its 
unity,  harmony,  and  perfection.  Thanks  to  the  angels, 
the  universe  has  been  clothed  with  splendor  ;  it  has  re¬ 
ceived  its  crowning  ornament. 

*  For  the  perfection  of  the  universe  there  must  be  intellectual  natures.  (St. 
Thomas,  Against  the  Gentiles,  49.) 

f  It  is  requisite  to  the  perfection  of  the  universe,  that  every  grade  of  creature 
should  be  found  in  it:  but  there  is  the  corporeal,  as  stone;  the  mixed,  as  man; 
therefore  ought  there  to  be  a  purely  spiritual  creature,  as  the  angels.  (  Vivien , 
The  Angel.) 


BOOK  SECOND. 


\ 


THE  OUTPOURING  OF  DIVINE  GOODNESS 
UPON  THE  ANGELS  BY  GRACE. 

~  r 

I. 

THE  NATURAL  ORDER. 

I  have  just  contemplated,  0  my  Creator,  the  outpour¬ 
ings  of  Thy  love  in  the  riches  of  our  nature.  This  sight 
ravishes  me  with  joyr  and  makes  me  feel  my  inability  to 
return  worthy  thanks. 

And  still,  with  the  admirable  variety  of  its  perfec¬ 
tions,  what  is  this  masterpiece  of  the  angelic  nature,  in 
the  plan  of  Thy  goodness  ?  The  humble  foundation,  the 
obscure  basis  of  the  wonderful  edifice  'that  is  to  make 
glorious  Thy  name. 

Lend  therefore  to  my  word  a  new’  delicacy,  to  my 
voice  greater  purity,  to  tell  of  Thy  supernatural  gifts. 
Cause  human  expressions  to  reflect  as  I  would  wish  the 
reality  of  heaven. 

Angels,  my  brothers — human  souls,  my  sisters — let  us 
raise  higher  our  thoughts  ;  let  us  fix  our  hearts  on  that 
which  is  above  ;  another  career  opens  before  us,  a  new 
order  of  things  begins. 

My  devoted  secretary,  courage!  I  understand  how 

(  75  ) 


76 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


here  the  pen  trembles  in  thy  hand:  to  translate  my 
thoughts  into  thy  language  will,  more  than  ever,  he  a 
difficult  task. 

Take  care,  nevertheless,  not  to  lose  confidence  ;  know 
v  that  in  heaven  a  certain  boldness  is  applauded,  when 
accompanied  by  perfect  submission  of  mind  and  heart. 

To  souls,  as  to  us,  the  supernatural  order  will  appear 
in  its  grandeur  and  beauty,  but  it  behooves  them  to  ex¬ 
actly  distinguish,  first  of  all,  what  belongs  to  the  natural 
order,  what  constitutes  and  characterizes  it. 

The  natural  order  comprises  three  elements:  the  be¬ 
ings  composing  it,  the  disposition  of  these  creatures,  their 
common  end. 

The  beings  composing  the  order  of  nature  are  all 
creatures,  from  the  atom  to  the  Seraph. 

Their  disposition  is  the  harmony  established  in  the 
spiritual  and  material  universe  by  Providence. 

Their  common  end  is  to  glorify  their  common  Author 
in  various  ways. 

Intelligent  creatures  tend  to  their  end  by  knowing 
their  Author,  in  loving  Him,  in  praising  Him,  in  enjoying 
the  sight  of  His  perfections,  in  experiencing  His  bene¬ 
fits.* 

/ 

Creatures  without  reason  attain  their  end  by  reflect¬ 
ing  the  perfections  of  God,  in  becoming  for  intelligent 
creatures  an  object  to  make  them  admire  Him  and  bless 
Him. 

A  spirit  is  naturally  perfect  when  it  knows  its  Creator 
according  to  the  whole  extent  of  its  intelligence,  loves 

*  Rational  creatures  gain  their  last  end  by  knowing  and  loving  God,  which  is 
not  the  pi’ovince  of  other  creatures  that  attain  their  last  end  in  as  much  as  they 
partake  of  some  likeness  of  God,  since  they  are,  or  live,  or  know,  (St.  Thomas, 
i,  ii,  q.  3,  art.  8.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


77 


Him  with  all  its  heart,  possesses  and  enjoys  Him  to  the 
full  extent  of  its  power. 

Having  reached  this  state,  the  spirit  no  longer  tends  to 
its  end  ;  it  has  attained  it  ;  it  is  at  the  apogee  of  its  per¬ 
fection. 

The  perfection  of  a  creature  consists  in  possessing 
what  is  essential  and  intrinsic  to  its  nature,  what  its  na¬ 
ture  exacts  and  calls  for,  what  makes  it  like  the  type  the 
Creator  had  in  view  whefc  He  called  it  into  being. 

This  creature  is  perfect  only  in  a  contingent  and  rela¬ 
tive  manner.  Though  the  exigencies  of  its  nature  are 
satisfied,  God  could  confer  on  it  new  perfections.*  This 
He  could  do  without  having  it  leave  the  natural  order. 

God  will  grant  to  man  in  his  innocence,  privileges 
above  his  nature,  without  being  above  all  created  nature. 
Of  this  number  will  be  immunity  from  pain  and  death. f 

Such  is  the  natural  order.  It  embraces  all  finite  na¬ 
tures,  be  they  already  created,  or  be  they  only  simply 
possible. 

From  our  creation,  we  were  perfect  in  nature.^  Our 
nature  was  complete;  no  perfection  was  wanting  to  it. 
We  were  able  to  taste  of  the  happiness  which  results  to 
a  being  from  the  full  use  of  its  faculties  and  from  the  pos¬ 
session  of  its  end.  || 

Had  we  been  placed  and  definitively  fixed  in  this  order, 

*  The  intellect  of  the  angel  has  no  defect,  if  defect  be  taken  as  a  privation,  in 
this,  that  it  has  not  what  it  ought  to  have.  If  defect  be  taken  as  a  negation,  in 
this  sense  every  creature  is  defective  compared  with  God.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  12, 
art.  4.) 

f  Theologians  call  these  gifts  preternatural. 

X  The  angelic  creature  in  the  beginning  of  its  creation  had  the  perfection  of  its 
nature.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  62,  art.  1.) 

||  As  to  the  beatitude  which  the  angel  can  acquire  by  its  power,  it  was  created 
happy.  (St.  Thomas,  Ibid.) 


T8 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


we  could  not  have  pretended  to  a  higher  destiny.  Pos¬ 
sessing  our  end,  we  should  have  eternally  blessed  God, 
contemplating  Him  in  the  measure  of  our  intelligence, 
thanking  Him  according  to  the  measure  of  our  love. 

But  happiness  of  an  inferior  order  could  not  suffice  for 
the  designs  of  God  in  our  regard.  In  His  eternity  He 
had  prepared  more  beautiful  things  for  us. 

Before  us  open  out  other  perspectives;  around  us  ex¬ 
tend  other  horizons:  another  er^  is  proposed  to  us,  and 
by  that  happiness  of  another  kind. 

We  had  never  belonged  to  the  purely  natural  order. 
From  the  first  moment  the  supernatural  order  had  opened 
to  us.  It  was  in  its  bosom  that  we  received  existence 
and  life.* 


*  To  that  natural  end  was  added  the  supernatural  end  of  beatific  vision. 
(Suarez,  1. 5,  c.  1,  n.  2.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


T9 


n. 

THE  SUPERNATURAL. 

The  supernatural  !  At  the  word,  lo  !  we  are  trans¬ 
ported  an  infinite  distance  above  created  nature. 

The  supernatural  !  Being  apart,  forming  its  universe 
for  itself,  dominating  the  rest  by  its  essence,  its  proper¬ 
ties,  its  faculties,  its  acts,  its  end. 

The  supernatural!  Raise  your  eyes  above  contingent 
and  finite  beings,  above  creatures  that  exist  or  could 
exist. 

There,  in  that  transcendental  region  of  thought,  un¬ 
created  nature  will  be  seen,  the  infinite  essence,  sover¬ 
eign  perfection,  the  absolute  supernatural  :  God. 

God  is  in  fact  the  supernatural.  He  is  such  by  the 
simplicity  of  His  essence,  the  society  of  the  Three  Per¬ 
sons,  by  being  Himself  His  own  end,  and  by  all  the 
wonders  of  His  intimate  life. 

In  making  Himself  known  as  the  Creator,  God  has 
shown  Himself  only  outwardly  ;  He  has  kept  the  inward 
secret  of  His  essence. 

Will  He  keep  forever  this  impenetrable  secret  ?  Will 
His  essence  always  be  inaccessible,  invisible,  unknown  ? 

Will  the  day  come  when  He  will  raise  the  veil  which 
covers  it — when  He  will  make  it  manifest,  when  He  will 
call  His  creatures  to  contemplate  it?  Who  will  dare 
pretend  it  ? 


80 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


Let  God  create  spirits  a  thousand  and  a  thousand 
times  more  perfect  than  we  :  like  us,  these  spirits  will 
find  themselves  at  an  infinite  distance  from  Him  ;  like  us, 
they  will  be  incapable  of  seizing  and  contemplating  His 
essence.*  , 

God  could  not  create  beings  the  excellence  of  whose 
nature  would  equal  the  supernatural.  These  two  ideas 
mutually  exclude  each  other. f 

But  could  God,  in  giving  to  His  creatures  privileges 
above  all  proportion  to  their  nature,  establish  them  in  a 
supernatural  state  ? 

Despite  all  the  impossibilities  which  here  rise  up  before 
created  intelligence,  God  will  make  real  this  wonder  of 
wonders  ;  there  will  be  natures  finite,  beings  created,  sim¬ 
ple  creatures,  who  will  be  raised  to  the  level  of  God,  and 
will  share  in  the  infinite  nature  of  God.J 

They  will  have  as  their  end  the  intimate  sight  of  God? 
vision  of  His  essence  ;  they  will  see  Him  face  to  face  ; 
they  will  possess  Him  ;  they  will  enjoy  the  delights  of 
His  bosom  ;  they  will  contemplate  His  interior  beauty  ; 
they  will  have  their  happiness  in  Him. 

Associated  to  the  supernatural  by  an  end  which  is 
the  supernatural  itself,  souls  and  pure  spirits  will  form 
the  supernatural  order. 

The  supernatural  order  !  Shall  we  not  have  a  nobler 
and  more  legitimate  term  to  designate  the  masterpiece  of 
God’s  heart  ? 


*  It  is  certain  that  God  can  create  substances  more  and  more  perfect  without 
end,  but  it  does  not  thence  follow  that  He  can  create  a  supernatural  substance. 
(Mazzella,  Be  Augelis.) 

f  No  created  substance  can  be  supernatural.  (Suarez,  1.  2,  c.  29,  n.  2.) 

X  They  are  happy  by  participation,  as  they  are  called  gods  by  participation. 
(St.  Thomas,  i,  ii,  q.  3,  art.  1.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  >  81 

* 

What  is  the  supernatural  ?  Is  it  not  the  divine  ?  We 
share  then  in  the  divine. 

Created  in  the  divine,  living  and  acting  in  the  divine, 
advancing  each  day  in  the  divine,  reaching,  for  eternity, 
at  last,  the  very  centre  of  the  divine,  we  form  essentially 
with  God  the  divine  order. 

We  shall  admire,  one  day,  a  divine  order  more  excel¬ 
lent  still,  that  which  will  result  from  the  hypostatic  union 
of  the  Word  with  human  nature. 

We  are  in  relation  with  the  divine  essence  ;  the  human¬ 
ity  of  the  Word  will  have  relations  of  special  character 
with  the  Divine  Persons.  These  will  be  ineffable  affini¬ 
ties.  That  humanity  will  live  their  life,  and  produce  acts 
we  could  not. 

The  Divine  Maternity  will  be  one  of  the  wonders  of 
this  superior  order  ;  the  Christian  Priesthood  will  be  its 
magnificent  extension.  The  functions  of  the  priest  and 
those  of  Mary  will  equally  depend  on  it. 

To  propose  to  give  the  divine,  the  infinite,  to  what  has 
for  its  foundation  only  nothingness  ;  what  bounty  !  This 
goodness  reveals  itself  to  us,  great,  broad,  not  as  the 
firmament,  not  as  the  universe,  but  as  the  gift  bestowed 
on  us  itself,  like  the  bosom  of  God  ;  it  is  infinite. 

We  bear  engraved  on  our  hearts  already  the  words 
we  shall  draw  from  the  bosom  of  the  Word,  and  which 
the  beloved  disciple  will  one  day  profer  on  earth  :  God 
is  charity  !* 

Yes,  God  is  love  !  and  he  alone  will  understand  His 
ways  who  will  understand  His  love.  Creation  is  love, 
conservation  is  love,  deification  is  love  and  the  very 
height  of  love  ! 


3* 


*  St.  John,  1  Ep.,  c.  4,  v.  8. 


82 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


0  language  of  man  !  language  of  man  !  why  dost  thou 
seem  to  become  the  drier  and  the  ruder,  the  sweeter  and 
the  more  ravishing  our  thoughts  are  ;  the  lower  and  the 
narrower,  the  more  elevated  and  vaster  they  are  ;  the 
more  colorless  and  languid,  the  more  they  are  brilliant  and 
full  of  life  ? 

So  flexible  and  so  supple  for  material  ideas,  thou  dost 
resist  the  forms  of  ideas  that  are  supernatural  and  divine  : 
thou  ever  makest  them  but  low  and  dwarfed.  I  must  say 
it,  that  man  may  not  take  such  feeble  expressions  as  the 
exact  measure  of  the  great  truths  I  recall  to  him. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


83 


in. 

AID. 

M.  '  % 

From  our  natural  state  to  the  bosom  of  God  there  is 
infinity.  How  bridge  over  such  a  distance  ?  How  raise 
ourselves  to  this  height? 

We  have  said  it:  none  of  the  pure  spirits,  however 
perfect  we  imagine  it,  would  dare  try  it.*  More  readily 
should  we  see  man,  under  the  weight  of  his  body,  reach 
the  regions  of  the  firmament,  and  transport  himself  from 
star  to  star. 

v  , 

And  yet,  0  my  God!  /  we  have  the  assurance  that  the 
distance  will  be  triumphed  over.  Since  it  is  Thou  who 
proposest  to  us  so  high  an  aim,  Thou  wilt  well  know  how 
to  furnish  us  a  means  proportioned  to  it.f 

The  means  of  attaining  to  the  bosom  of  God,  as  it  must 
be  supernatural  as  God,  cannot  be  other  than  God — God 
intervening  as  aid  and  succor,  and  giving  to  His  interven¬ 
tion  that  name  forever  blessed  of  grace,  which  will  ex¬ 
press  favor  by  excellence. $ 

The  integrity  of  our  nature  will  not  disappear.  It  will 
serve  as  a  foundation  for  grace,  as  grace  will  be  the  sup¬ 
port  of  infused  virtues. 

*  Nor  can  any  creature  attain  ultimate  beatitude  by  its  natural  qualities.  (St, 
Thomas,  i,  ii,  q.  5,  art.  5.) 

f  The  acts  that  lead  to  the  end  must  be  proportioned  to  the  end.  (St.  Thomas, 
i,  ii,  q.  109,  art.  5.) 

J  It  is  necessary  that  God  alone  deify,  communicating  the  participation  of  the 
divine  nature.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  ii,  q.  112,  art.  1.) 


84 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


We  shall  then  be  elevated,  transformed,  placed  in  a  con¬ 
dition  to  tend  to  our  supernatural  end. 

We  received  at  the  same  time  sanctifying  grace  and 
actual  grace.* * * § 

Sanctifying  grace,  participation  of  the  intimate  life  of 
God,  made  us  resplendent  with,  the  interior  beauties  of 
this  life.  It  is  the  residence  of  God  in  us,  not  simply  by 
the  immensity  of  His  nature,  hut  by  our  union  with  Him. 

Actual  grace,  the  impulse  and  strength  God  gives  us 
to  make  us  do  meritorious  works,  is  an  active  help  which 
is  renewed  for  each  operation,  and  demands  the  concur¬ 
rence  of  our  will. 

With  grace  we  received  the  infused  virtues.  The 
habits  or  inclinations,  formed  prior  to  all  exercise,  pre¬ 
pare  our  faculties  for  their  respective  acts.f 

We  finally  received  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost. 
These  gifts  dispose  our  hearts  to  receive  the  divine  move¬ 
ments,  and  allow  themselves  to  be  guided  according  to 
rules  more  extraordinary  and  elevated  than  the  common 
laws  of  nature  and  of  grace  4 

Grace,  infused  virtues,  the  gifts  of  the  Holy  Ghost, 
were  bestowed  upon  us  at  the  very  instant  of  our  crea¬ 
tion.  § 

In  creating  nature  God  embellished  it  with  superna¬ 
tural  beauty,  and  enriched  it  with  heavenly  treasures. 

*  Who  made  the  good  •will  in  angels  but  Him  who  created  them  by  His  will, 
at  the  same  time  giving  them  nature  and  bestowing  grace.  (St.  Aug.,  City  of 
God,  1. 12,  c.  9.) 

f  Angels  had  all  virtues  infused  in  the  first  instant.  (Suarez,  1.  5,  c.  4,  n.  10.) 

X  I  do  not  see  why  these  gifts  are  to  be  denied  to  angels,  or  why  they  should  be 
incapable  of  them.  (Suarez,  1.  5,  c.  4,  n.  12.) 

§  The  angels  were  created  by  the  Word,  and  by  the  sanctification  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  received  all  manner  of  perfection.  (St.  John  Damascene,  On  Faith ,  1. 2,  c.  3.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  85 

He  gave  Himself  to  us  as  a  means,  at  the  same  time  He 
proposed  Himself  to  us  as  an  end. 

From  the  instant  the  end  was  proposed  to  us,  it  was 
necessary  that  we  should  tend  to  it.  No  delay  was  possi¬ 
ble.* 

We  were  like  trees  created  with  their  flowers  and  ready 
to  hear  fruit  ;  flowers  and  fruits  with  which  we  shall  not 
cease  to  crown  ourselves,  in  virtue  of  the  divine  graft  in¬ 
serted  in  our  nature. 

Thou  hast  so  loved  us,  0  my  God  !  that  Thou  hast  not 
been  willing  to  leave  us  one  instant  without  those  orna¬ 
ments,  alone  capable  of  rendering  us  agreeable  to  Thy 
eyes,  without  the  precious  help  of  Thy  action,  alone  capa¬ 
ble  of  making  us  produce  works  worthy  of  Thee. 

Divine  grace,  with  its  principle,  its  wonders,  its  econ¬ 
omy,  constitutes  the  supernatural  order,  but  that  order 
only  in  its  formation  and  progress.  Divine  glory  alone 
will  be  its  consummation  and  crown. 

The  supernatural  is  not  an  ornament  to  our  nature  sim¬ 
ply  exterior.  It  reaches  and  affects  it,  as  if  it  pertained 
to  its  essence.  Without  destroying  it  fundamentally, 
without  changing  its  identity,  it  makes  it  undergo  a  com¬ 
plete  transformation^ 

*  The  angel,  from  the  time  of  creation,  began  to  be  a  journeyer  to  his  home, 
for  which  he  was  made;  and  therefore  from  that  time  ought  to  have  received 
too  the  grace  of  the  journeyer.  (Suarez,  1.  5,  c.  4,  n.  9.) 

f  It  affects  intrinsically,  whether  by  inhering,  or  by  moving  in  a  wholesome 
way.  (Theologia  Claromontensis,  de  gratia ,  notiones  præviæ.) 


86 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


"  \  » 

IT. 

DISTRIBUTION. 

1  .  • 

God  did  not  give  us  all  grace  in  equal  abundance.  He 
proportioned  it  to  the  natural  perfections  of  each  one. 
Those  who  received  a  more  subtle  and  vigorous  sub¬ 
stance  were  endowed  with  supernatural  gifts  of  greater 
excellence.* 

Nature  has  been  created  for  grace,  as  grace  for  nature. 
God  has  established  different  degrees  in  nature  only  to 
make  them  the  basis  of  different  degrees  of  grace  and 
of  glory,  f 

God  will  not  follow  the  same  rules  with  regard  to  men. 
In  them  the  distribution  of  grace  will  be  independent  of 
the  natural  perfections  of  soul  or  body. 

Human  nature  once  vitiated  is  no  longer  worthy  to  re¬ 
ceive  grace. $  God  will  humble  it,  choosing  what  is  low¬ 
est  to  confound  that  which  is  highest.  § 

In  the  midst  of  its  privileges  and  its  greatness,  the  an¬ 
gelic  nature  will  too  have  its  lessomof  humility. 

Human  souls  shall  be  called  to  the  same  glory  as  the 

*  The  angels,  who  are  created  of  more  subtle  nature,  are  endowed  with  greater 
gifts  of  grace.  (Peter  Lombard,  Dist.  3,  Sentence  2.) 

f  As  the  angelic  nature  is  made  by  God  to  attain  grace  and  happiness,  so  the 
grades  of  angelic  nature  seem  constituted  for  different  grades  of  grace  and  of 
glory.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  62,  art.  6.) 

Î  In  man  there  is  what  can  impede  or  retard  the  movement  of  the  intellectual 
nature;  not  so  in  angels.  Whence  there  is  not  the  same  condition  in  each  of  the 
two.  (Ibid.) 

£  St.  Paul,  1  Cor.,  c.  1,  v.  28. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  87 

angels,  and  many  souls  will  raise  themselves  by  their 
merits  above  a  great  number  of  angels. 

The  soul  of  Mary  will  appear  above  all  the  pure  spirits, 
forming  an  order  apart,  and  that  of  the  Incarnate  Word 
will  take  its  place  on  the  throne  of  the  Divinity. 

Finally  by  these  inequalities  of  nature  and  of  grace, 
made  in  the  distribution  of  grace,  God  will  not  cease  to 
recall  to  angels  and  to  men  the  free  and  gratuitous  char¬ 
acter  of  His  gifts. 

But  in  man  as  in  the  angel,  God  will  observe  an  exact 
proportion  between  the  grace  corresponded  with  and  the 
glory  merited  by  it.*  Grace  will  always  be  the  seed  of 
glory,  as  glory  will  be  ever  the  flowering  of  grace. f 

The  imperfect  being  could  never  raise  itself  to  an 
equality  with  Infinite  Being  ;  but  Infinite  Being  opening 
its  heart,  stretching  forth  its  hand,  has  said  to  it  with 
goodness  : 

“Be  of  good  heart!  what  is  wanting  to  thee,  lo!  here 
it  is.  To  leap  the  chasm,  to  reach  me,  to  sit  at  my  side, 
to  share  my  glory,  thou  shalt  have  but  to  will  it.” 

0  ladder  of  love  !  0  royal  way  to  the  bosom  of  God  ! 

0  wonderful  avenue  to  the  palace  of  the  Trinity!  Su¬ 
pernatural  grace,  in  thee  is  my  treasure,  in  thee  is 
heaven,  in  Thee  a  happy  eternity,  in  thee  God  Himself! 
God,  eternity,  heaven,  I  possess  them  in  thee,  because 
in  thee  I  have  the  pledge  of  them. 

The  diffusion  of  grace  brings  to  the  angelic  world 

*  Apoc.  c.  21,  v.  17.  It  is  here  meant  that  by  the  same  measure  is  to  be  meas¬ 
ured  both  the  happiness  of  the  angel  as  that  of  man,  in  proportion  to  the  great¬ 
ness  of  grace  and  of  good  acts.  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  on  this  passage.)  The  difference  of 
glory  will  be  in  them  always  according  to  the  difference  of  preceding  merit. 
(St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  108,  art.  7.) 

t  Since  grace  is  the  seed  of  glory.  (Suarez,  1.  5,  c.  4,  n.  10.) 


88 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


/ 


movement,  fecundity,  life.  Under  its  action  every  thing 
is  astir  and  ferments.  It  produces  a  supernatural 
spring,  of  which  a  spring  on  earth  is  scarcely  a  gross 
image. 

There  is  an  immense  vegetation,  a  fecundity  of  super¬ 
ior  order,  brought  into  the  cold  climate  of  nature  by  a 
breath  from  the  bosom  of  God.  In  every  heart  that  will 
give  itself  up  to  this  influence,  there  will  burst  forth  won¬ 
ders  worthy  of  heaven  and  of  eternity. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


89 


/ 

V  I 


Y 

THE  THIAL.  . 

In  giving  us,  in  the  state  of  grace,  the  means  to  know 
and  attain  our  supernatural  end,  God  left  us  free.  To 
move  themselves  and  carry  us  to  His  bosom,  the  magnifi¬ 
cent  wings  with  which  He  had  gifted  us  awaited  His 
action  and  our  concurrence.  To  take  our  flight  and  con¬ 
tinue  it  was  always  to  depend  on  Him  and  on  us.* * 

God  has  created  us  without  us  ;  but  he  will  not  ele¬ 
vate  us  to  so  exalted  a  state  without  our  cooperation. 
Our  will  must  cooperate  with  His  grace,  and  concur  with 
it  to  our  elevation. f 

Our  liberty  honors  Thee,  0  my  God,  in  preparing  for 
Thee,  during  eternity,  praise  spontaneous  and  cordial, 
the  praise  that  wells  forth  from  the  heart  of  the  child. 
It  honors  us  by  making  us,  by  cooperation,  the  authors 
of  our  happiness,  in  procuring  us  the  satisfaction  of 
owing  our  salvation  to  ourselves.  Yes,  it  is  in  view  of 
this  double  honor  that  Thou  hast  said  to  us,  from  the  first 
instant  : 

“  Go,  My  angels  !  You  see  the  end,  and  you  have 
the  means.  I  have  placed  in  you  the  germ  of  your 
greatness;  it  belongs  to  you  to  make  it  hud  forth.  Ful¬ 
fill  your  destiny  of  yourselves,  and  he  worthy  of  Me. 

*  The  means  to  obtain  beatitude  are  free  moral  acts  ;  as  in  men,  so  too  in  angels. 
(Suarez,  1.  5,  c.  1,  n.  11.) 

*  He  causes  us  to  will  ;  when  we  will,  He  cooperates  with  us  to  perfect.  (St. 
Aug.,  On  Free  Will ,  c.  17.) 


90 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


Your  lot  is  in  your  hands,  and  everything  will  de¬ 
pend  on  your  fidelity.  I  will  not  fail  you  in  anything  ; 
on  your  part  fail  no  less  towards  yourselves.” 

God  immediately  proposed  to  us  to  believe  without  un¬ 
derstanding,  and  to  adore  without  seeing. 

To  go  to  God,  as  author  of  grace,  it  was  indispensable 
for  us  to  believe  in  Him  in  a  supernatural  manner,  to 
consider  Him  in  the  superior  light  of  faith.* 

For  this  He  revealed  to  us  not  only  His  existence,  but 
the  unfathomable  mystery  of  His  nature  ;  unity  and  in¬ 
divisibility  of  essence  ;  distinction  and  trinity  of  persons  ; 
generation  of  the  Son;  procession  of  the  Holy  Ghost; 
circuminsession  ;  the  missions.! 

The  mystery  of  the  incarnation  concerned  us  less  than 
it  did  men  :  it  was  necessary  for  us  to  know  it.  The 
Incarnate  Word  shall  be  our  chief;  we  shall  celebrate 
His  glory  ;  we  shall  adore  in  Him  our  God. 

The  mystery  of  a  God  made  man  was  then  revealed  to 
us:  but  this  was  in  a  general  way,  without  circumstances 
of  time,  place,  manner,  person,  or  when  it  should  come 
to  pass  4 

God  made  us  know  that  several  among  us  would 
govern  in  His  name  the  material  world,  that  others 
would  assist  men  ;  that  all  would  glorify  Christ  and  His 
Virgin  Mother. 


*  Hebr.,  c.  11.  This  is  no  less  true  of  angels  than  of  men.  (Suarez,  1.  5,  c.  6,  n.  2.) 

f  It  is  to  be  said  that  the  angels  in  probation  knew  the  mystery  of  the  Trinity 
more  explicitly  and  distinctly  than  we.  So  theologians  commonly.  (Suarez 
Ibid.,  n.  2.)  The  conclusion  is  that  the  angels  explicitly  believe  all  the  articles 
of  divine  teaching.  (Ibid.,  n.  5.) 

I  This  does  not  seem  to  apply  to  angels  as  it  does  to  men.  Still  I  judge  it  more, 
probable  that  angels  in  probation  know  by  revelation  and  faith  the  mystery  of 
the  Incarnation.  In  probation  they  only  knew  in  an  obscure  way  that  it  was 
to  be,  and  in  a  confused  and  general  manner  how  it  was  to  be.  (Ibid.,  n.  6,  q.34.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


91 


In  a  word,  He  manifested  His  designs  in  our  regard, 
declared  to  us  His  will,  and  ordered  us  to  consecrate  our¬ 
selves  to  His  service. 

The  knowledge  of  so  many  supernatural  truths,  clear 
in  their  certitude,  obscure  in  their  object,  was  given  us 
with  grace. 

Faith  was  to  hold  captive  our  intelligence,  and  make 
it  long  for  vision  ;  excite  our  hope  and  sustain  its  efforts  ; 
increase  our  love  an  hundredfold  and  draw  it  to  the  in¬ 
finite.* 

If  God  left  us  free  in  our  acts,  it  was  not  through  in¬ 
difference  on  His  part.  In  offering  such  a  beautiful  des¬ 
tiny,  He  had  no  intention  of  showing  Himself  satisfied 
with  a  refusal.  He  performed  an  act  of  goodness  and 
of  love,  but  at  the  same  time  an  act  of  justice  and  of  au¬ 
thority. 

Understand,  therefore,  why,  side  by  side  with  the 
eternity  of  delight  ready  to  receive  us  if  we  should  re¬ 
main  faithful,  there  appeared  to  us  the  eternity  of  tor¬ 
ment  destined  to  swallow  us  up  should  we  revolt.  It 
was  tracing  us  the  way,  and  showing  us  the  reef.f 

We  were  not  then  in  the  dark.  We  had  light  from 
the  first  moment;  our  aurora  was  one  without  blemish. J 

Created  master  of  itself,  our  will  was  like  a  balance  in 
equilibrium,  which  could  not  so  remain.  It  was  to  in¬ 
cline  toward  the  truth  by  good  use,  or  toward  untruth 
by  abuse. § 

*  It  became  the  angels  to  captivate  the  intellect  in  obedience  to  God.  (Ibid. 
c.  5,  n.  6.) 

f  Bail,  Théologie  Affective.  Treatise  on  the  Angels,  c.  10. 

|  As  soon  as  made,  they  were  light.  (St.  Aug.,  City  of  God,  1.  11,  c.  II.) 

2  The  angelic  will  was  as  a  balauce,  for  it  could  incline  to  either  side.  (Al- 
bertus  Magnus,  q.  6,  art.  3.) 


92 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


Truths  to  believe,  duties  to  fulfill  ;  chastisement  to 
fear,  reward  to  hope  for;  aid  of  every  kind,  the  end  of 
the  trial  unknown;  such  was  what  presented  itself  at 
once  to  our  freedom. 

u  Freedom  ?”  I  exclaimed,  “liberty!  gift  divine!  thou 
charmest  me,  thou  drawest  me — why  dost  thou  so  affright 
me? 

“I  am,  alas!  but  weakness,  fragility.  Goodness  of 
God,  guard  me  from  myself!  ” 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


93 


VI. 

THE  REVOLT. 

Created  pure  and  constituted  in  truth,  we  had  only 
to  follow  the  impulse  received  to  go  to  God.* * * § 

All  followed  it  at  first  ;  in  all  the  first  movement  was 
good.  But,  from  the  second  step,  at  the  first  free  act,  a 
sad  divergence  was  seen.f 

There  was  a  spirit,  whom  God  had  made  superior  to 
the  others,  favoring  him  with  more  excellent  gifts. 
Brilliant  with  grace  and  full  of  wisdom,  he  reunited  in 
himself  the  perfections  disseminated  among  the  nine 
choirs,  and  giving  to  each  its  distinctive  character.:]: 
These  were  love,  knowledge,  equity,  empire,  strength, 
justice,  authority,  zeal,  goodness.  These  gifts,  as  so 
many  precious  stones,  heightened  his  splendor,  and 
formed  his  raiment.  In  the  language  of  man,  a  prophet 
will  style  them  one  day  sardonyx,  topaz,  jasper, 
chrysolite,  onyx,  beryl,  sapphire,  carbuncle,  emerald. § 

*  All  were  created  of  equal  happiness  at  first,  and  so  remained,  until  those 
who  are  now  bad  had  fallen  from  the  light  of  goodness  of  their  own  will.  (St. 
Aug.,  City  of  God,  1. 11,  c.  11.)  * 

t  The  first  action  was  common  to  all,  but  in  the  second  they  divided  ;  and 
therefore  in  the  first  instant  all  were  good,  but  in  the  second  the  good  were  dis¬ 
tinct  from  the  bad.  (St.  Aug.,  on  Genesis,  ad  Litteram,  c.  4  ;  St.  Thomas,  i,  q.63, 
art.  6.) 

I  As  superior  he  contained  in  himself  the  perfections  of  all  the  others.  (St. 
Gregory,  Morals,  1.  32,  c.  18.) 

§  By  the  gems  are  understood  the  spiritual  graces  and  ornaments  of  the  ang¬ 
els  before  the  fall.  (Corn,  a  Lapide.) 


94 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


f 


This  privileged  Angel  was  to  be  the  created  image  of 
the  Word,  as  the  Word  was  the  uncreated  image  of  the 
Father.  Not  only  did  he  bear  within  himself  the  divine 
resemblance,  but  he  was  the  seal  whereby  it  was  to  be 
impressed  on  others.*  He  walked  in  the  midst  of  the 
fire  that  inflames  the  Seraphim,  and  tasted  of  the  de¬ 
lights  of  divine  love.  Clothed  with  the  highest  dignity, 
he  commanded  his  brethren,  and  protected  them  with  his 
wings.  He  inundated  them  with  his  splendor,  and  he 
had  received  the  name  of  bearer  of  light  ;  he  was  called 
Lucifer.f  . 

Who  would  have  suspected  it,  who  could  have  looked 
forward  to  it?  He  it  was,  he  the  very  one  who  set  up 
a  cry  of  revolt,  and  became  the  first  of  rebels.  Lucifer 
was  the  first  link  in  the  chain  of  apostasies,  scandals,  in¬ 
famous  actions,  which,  passing  through  the  human  race, 
will  be  the  work  of  all  the  enemies  of  God,  and  will 
reach  to  the  end  of  time. 

The  occasion  of  this  frightful  fall  of  the  most  excellent 
of  spirits  was  his  very  excellence.  Lucifer  turned  his 
eyes  from  God  to  fix  them  on  his  own  perfections.  He 
took  complacency  in  them,  and  forgot  Him  who  had  so 
liberally  shared  them  with  him.J 

“I  will  raise  myself  higher  than  the  clouds,”  he  cried, 
“  I  will  set  my  throne  above  the  stars  ;  I  will  sit  in  the 


*  The  royal  seal  not  only  bears  engraved  the  arms  of  the  King,  but  also  im¬ 
presses  them  on  other  objects,  which  is  the  proper  use  of  a  seal.  (Vivien,  Angel.) 

f  Ezecliiel,  c.  28,  v.  12-15.  The  greater  part  of  the  Fathers  consider  the  picture 
given  by  Ezechiel,  of  the  power  and  of  the  fall  of  the  King  of  Tyre,  a  figure  of 
the  former  glory  aud  of  the  fall  of  Lucifer.  (D’Alloli,  on  this  passage.) 

}  Since  he  took  complacency  in  the  power  and  dignity  which  he  had  received 
of  God.)  St.  Ambrose,  letter  35.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  95 

mountain  of  the  covenant  ;  I  will  go  up  even  to  heaven  ; 
I  will  be  like  to  the  Most  High.”* 

“Why  submit  to  the  authority  of  a  Master,  bow  the 
head  under  the  yoke  of  His  laws,  live  as  slaves  ?  Are 
we  not  free  by  essence?  Does  not  everything  in  us 
breathe  independence?”! 

“Which  of  you  would  not  blush  to  accept  as  com¬ 
panions  in  glory  those  men  whose  condition  of  beings 
composed  of  spirit  and  ,body  designates  them  as  subject 
to  us?  Would  this  not  be  wholly  to  debase  us?  Far 
from  us  such  unworthy  alliance!”! 

“What  good  comes  to  us  from  bowing  before  a  God 
made  flesh  ?  Have  we  any  need  of  Him  ?  Is  not  hap¬ 
piness  within  our  reach  as  within  His  ?  It  is  decorous 
to  be  sufficient  for  ourselves  ;  it  becomes  us  to  owe  Him 
nothing.  ”§ 

“To  pretend  to  put  our  wing  at  His  service?  To 
wish  to  attach  us  to  the  steps  of  man  in  his  obscure 
paths?  To  dare  lower  to  earthly  employments  brilliant 
angels  !  Away  with  slavery  !  ” 

“If  the  Word  wishes  to  take  to  Himself  a  created 
nature,  He  owres  it  to  Himself  to  take  the  most  perfect, 
and  He  owes  it  to  you  to  take  Lucifer.  In  raising  me 
to  the  throne  of  divinity,  He  will  raise  you  to  it.” j| 

“  Do  not  swallow  this  insult  ;  do  not  suffer  yourself  to 

*  Isaias,  c.  14,  v.  13-14. 

f  St.  Bonaventure,  Dist.  5,  art.  1. 

J  He  however,  in  his  spleen,  was  filled  with  envy,  and  plotted  to  have  the  others 
subject  to  him,  disdaining  to  have  them  as  associates.  (St.  Bernard,  Cant.,  serm.  17.) 

g  Because  he  wished  to  suffice  for  himself  for  happiness  of  life.  (St.  Aug.,  City 
of  God,  1. 12,  c.  1.) 

I  No  desire  of  Lucifer’s  pride  is  better  shown  by  these  words  than  his  longing 
for  the  dignity  of  Christ  by  hypostatic  union.  (Suarez.  1.  7,  c.  13,  n.  14.) 


96 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


be  made  drink  of  contempt.  Join  with  him  who  knows 
how  to  protest  in  your  favor.  Let  us  dare  everything! 
let  us  brave  everything  !  let  our  indomitable  pride  be  our 
only  law! ”* 

“Were  the  impossible  to  come  about,  if  any  other  will 
but  ours  were  to  prevail,  if  the  rule  of  good  and  of  evil 
were  no  longer  to  depend  on  us,  I  would  know  how  to 
have  my  throne  apart;  I  would  place  it  on  the  side  of 
the  north  wind,f  far,  very  far,  at  the  very  extreme  from 
the  lights  and  flames  of  love  ;  I  would  be  the  king  of 
eternal  cold,  of  eternal  night,  and  I  would  make  all  the 
echoes  of  space  cry  out,  0  evil,  be  my  good  !  0  good, 
be  my  evil!  ” 

*  Job,  c.  41,  y.  25.  f  Isaias,  c.  14,  and  Commentaries. 


r 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


97 


VII. 

9  \ 

FIDELITY. 

In  the  midst  of  the  stupor  just  caused  in  our  ranks  by 
the  blasphemy  of  the  rebel,  one  of  the  chiefs  of  the 
heavenly  hosts,  the  first  in  dignity  after  Lucifer,  could 
not  withhold  his  indignation.* 

“Who  is  like  unto  God?”  he  cried.  “Who  is  like 
unto  God  ?”  answered  millions  of  voices  in  each  circle 
of  the  brilliant  sphere.  And  all  the  echoes  of  creation 
gave  back  the  words:  “Who  is  like  unto  God?” 

Admirable  expression,  full  of  humility  and  grandeur, 
of  submission  and  of  power,  which  will  remain  the  honor 
and  the  very  name  of  the  sublime  spirit,  the  first  to  prof¬ 
fer  it!  The  name  of  Michael  signifies:  Who  is  like  unto 
God?f  7  * 

This  phrase  has  all  the  energy  of  angelic  language, 
and  in  its  brevity  contains  the  most  eloquent  discourse. 
How  can  the  feeble  and  diffuse  syllables  of  human  lan- 

*  That  Saint  Michael  is  the  prince  of  all  the  angels,  and  therefore  the  first 
among  the  Seraphim,  thought  St.  Basil,  St.  Pantaleo,  St.  Lawrence  Justinian. 
Rupert,  Ambrose  Catarini,  Mohisa,  Viegus,  Salmeron,  Bellarmin,  and  others 
Whence  Michael  is  called  the  archangel,  not  because  he  is  of  the  order  of  arch¬ 
angels,  but  because  he  is  the  head  and  leader  of  all  the  angels.  (Corn,  a  Lapide, 
on  Daniel,  c.[10.) 

t  In  Hebrew  Michael  signifies  :  Who  is  like  God  ?  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  on  the  Apocal, 
c.  12.) 

While  the  proud  foe 

Thou  layest  low, 

Thy  cry  is  :  Who  like  God?  (Hymn,  Claromontensis.) 


4 


98 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


guage  convey  its  meaning  ?  The  most  eloquent  pages, 
the  most  copious  volumes,  would  not  be  enough. 

Who  is  like  unto  God? — that  is  to  say,  who  has,  like 
God,  holiness  by  the  side  of  which  everything  is  but  blot 
and  foulness  ?  wisdom  convicting  of  folly  whoever  wanders 
from  His  ways  ?  power  producing  by  a  word,  or  annihil¬ 
ating  by  a  breath,  every  creature  ?  fidelity  never  losing 
sight  of  the  hand  or  the  heart,  and  giving  to  each  one 
according  to  his  works  ?  justice  reserving  to  the  perverse 
an  abyss  of  torments?  goodness  opening  to  the  elect  a 
paradise  of  delight  ?  perfection  possessing  all,  and  naming 
itself  The  Infinite  ? 

Fixing  his  look  upon  the  apostate,  Michael  continued  : 

“Thou  dost  wish,  Lucifer,  to  raise  thyself  to  the  height 
of  God?  to  equal  God?  to  be  God?  Haste!  make  us 
witnesses  of  this  wonderful  transformation. 

“  Being  of  a  day,  efface  the  too  recent  date  of  thy  cre¬ 
ation  ;  remove  this  shameful  stigma  from  thy  existence  ; 
suppress  thy  point  of  departure:  as  God,  be  eternal! 

“ Imperceptible  atom,  extend  thy  sphere;  burst  the 
circle  in  which  thy  being  was  circumscribed  :  as  God,  be 
immense  ! 

“  Beyond  the  worlds  take  at  thy  pleasure  ;  command 
in  thy  turn  nothingness  ;  produce  thou  too  thy  universe  : 
as  God,  be  all-powerful! 

“  Remain  debtor  to  Him  thou  hatest  ?  Disgrace  ! 
Cast  off  those  humbling  marks;  give  Him  back  those 
faculties,  that  nature.  Art  thou  not  rich  enough  of  thy 
own  ? 

“Thou  hast  said:  ‘I  will  sit  in  the  mount  of  the  cove¬ 
nant.’  Yes,  we  shall  be  milliards  on  milliards  erect 
to  assist,  and  thou  wilt  be  seated,  and  age  on  age  will 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  99 

be  able  to  repeat,  ‘Nothing  equals  Lucifer  in  impu¬ 
dence  !  ’* 

44  Thou  art  going  to  place  thy  nest  among  the  stars  ? 
It  is  no  doubt  to  cause  new  suns  to  burst  forth.  A  grand 
height!  But  one  must  reach  it.  Couldst  thou  reach  it? 
Will  there  not  be  a  hand  found  to  precipitate  thee  thence, 
and  crush  in  their  germ  thy  projects  and  dreams  ?f 

44  Thou  losest  time  in  raising  thyself,  in  filling  thy 
wings,  in  beating  them.  I  have  seen  the  finger  of  the 
Most  High  trace  around  thee  a  circle  thou  shalt  not  pass. 
Thou  shalt  remain  shut  up  in  the  net  of  divine  justice,  of 
which  all  the  power  of  creation  could  not  break  a  mesh. 

44  In  the  union  of  the  divine  nature  with  human  nature, 
in  the  person  of  the  Word,  uncreated  wisdom  has  con¬ 
ceived  its  masterpiece. 

The  union  of  the  sovereign  good  and  of  sovereign  evil 
in  the  same  person  was  a  conception  reserved  to  the  folly 
of  Satan. 

44  Thus  was  it  to  be  shown,  that,  after  the  withdrawal 
of  grace,  it  is  in  the  vastest  intellects  the  most  monstrous 
follies  find  birth. 

4 4 Folly!  threefold  folly  in  the  pale  ray  not  to  recog¬ 
nize  the  centre  whence  it  flows,  to  wish  to  take  its  place, 
to  shine  better  than  it,  and  enlighten  it. 

44  Let  us  be  on  our  guard,  brothers  well-beloved,  not 
to  put  ourselves  outside  the  way  of  order,  and  lose  by  re¬ 
bellion  what  alone  perfect  obedience  can  secure  us. 

44  Let  us  suffer  the  proud  to  go  his  perverse  way.  He 

*  I  will  sit  in  the  Mount  of  Testament.  0  impudent  being  !  0  impudent 
being  !  Thousands  of  thousands  minister,  and  ten  times  hundreds  of  thousands 
assist,  and  thou  wilt  be  seated?  (St.  Bernard,  serm.  on  St.  Benedict.) 

f  Abdias,  c.  1,  v.  4. 


100 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


will  withdraw  from  the  sceptre  of  gold  only  to  fall  under 
the  rod  of  iron. 

“The  greater  the  authority,  the  more  noble  submis¬ 
sion.  Under  the  hand  of  the  Eternal  what  happiness  ! 
It  is  sweet  to  obey  when  it  is  God  commands.* 

“  The  homage  we  pay  Christ,  will  return  back  upon  us 
in  rays  of  glory. 

“  What  an  honor  to  us  to  serve  Him  ;  to  bless  His  in¬ 
comparable  Mother  ;  to  lose  ourselves  in  His  love  ;  to  go 
rest  on  Him  as  upon  the  corner-stone  of  the  immortal 
edifice,  which  time,  in  its  passage,  will  have  given  to 
eternity.” 


*  Whose  eternal  empire  they  freely,  because  sweetly,  obey.  (St.  Aug.,  against 
Faustus,  1.  22,  c.  27.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


101 


Till. 

THE  DIVISION. 

Solicited  at  one  and  the  same  time  by  Michael  and  by 
Lucifer,  each  spirit  had  to  declare  himself. 

The  example  of  Lucifer  drew  into  the  revolt  a  crowd 
of  spirits.  He  who  had  given  the  scandal  being  the 
highest,  his  influence  extended  into  every  rank.  In  the 
nine  choirs  there  were  spirits  who  allowed  themselves  to 
be  misled,  and  the  number  of  apostates  equaled  the  third 
part  of  all  the  angels.* 

This  capital  crime  was  pride  ;  but  in  this  pride  how 
many  species  of  deformity!  All  that  ambition,  arro¬ 
gance,  jealously,  envy,  hatred,  cowardice,  falsehood  have 
of  what  is  odious  and  vile,  was  then  united. 

How  could  such  noble  spirits  descend  so  low  ?  How, . 
with  such  beautiful  light,  could  they  dare  revolt  and 
sin  ?  f 

In  their  intelligence  this  light  was  speculative  ;  it  im¬ 
pressed  no  movement  on  their  will  ;  it  had  no  effect. 
They  sho^d  themselves  rebellious  to  it,  and  acted  as  if 
they  did  not  have  it.  $ 

*  Apoc.,  c.  12,  v.  4.  The  devil  had  the  nine  orders  of  angels  under  him.  (St. 
Jerome  on  the  23d  Ps.)  He  fell  not  alone,  but  encircled  by  a  great  band.  (St. 
Greg.  Naz.,  Carm.  6.)  A  far  greater  number  of  good,  (angels)  preserving  the 
order  of  their  nature  in  things  celestial.  (St.  Aug.,  City  of  God,  1.  2,  c.  23.)  It  is 
commonly  held  that  a  third  part  of  all  the  orders  of  the  angels  fell.  (Theol. 
Claromontensis,  c.  3,  art.  2.) 

t  Isaias,  c.  14,  v.  12. 

I  Job,  c.  24,  v.  13.  The  demons,  by  a  perverse  taking  away  their  minds  from 


102 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


The  natural  light  of  the  pure  spirits  rendered  their 
judgment  unerring  in  things  of  nature  ;  but  in  what  was 
supernatural,  it  was  insufficient,  and  left  them  subject 
to  a  thousand  errors. 

The  trial  to  which  we  were  subjected  was  supernatural, 
in  itself  and  in  its  consequences.  The  wicked  spirits  did 
not  wish  to  decide  by  any  but  natural  reasons  ;  they 
found  themselves  in  fault. 

They  proved  in  this  way  that  the  will  can  always  re¬ 
sist  the  attractions  of  grace,  and  that  nothing  is  so  fragile 
and  feeble  as  free  will. 

The  discourse  of  Michael  was  the  light  of  the  good 
angels,  their  strength  and  their  salvation.  By  a  simple 
glance  of  their  intelligence,  they  seized  its  bearing  and 
meaning. 

On  hearing  it  the  greater  part  yielded  to  the  move¬ 
ment  of  grace,  and  took  for  their  device  the  cry  of  the 
prince  of  the  heavenly  armies  :  “  Who  is  like  unto 
God?” 

It  was  a  magnificent  outburst  of  charity,  of  zeal,  of  all 
the  flames  lit  up  in  us  by  the  seraphic  eloquence  of  our 
chief.  The  place  of  the  trial  never  heard  a  more  beau¬ 
tiful  acclaim. 

But,  alas!  none  of  the  spirits  who  took  to  the  evil 
course,  allowed  himself  to  be  touched  by  it.  %  No  exhor¬ 
tation  could  convert  them.  They  shut  their  eyes  that 
they  might  not  see,  their  ears  that  they  might  not  hear. 
They  remained  insensible  to  all  solicitation.  0  how 
terrible  is  the  hardness  of  heart  that  comes  from 
pride  !* * 


the  influence  of  divine  wisdom,  absolutely  judge  of  things  according  to  the  nat¬ 
ural  condition.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  58,  art.  5.) 

*  Gerson,  on  the  Angels. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


108 


The  trial  was  brief;  it  lasted  but  a  few  instants.  It 
was  however  sufficient,  and  each  spirit  was  able  to  act 
with  full  liberty  in  his  choice.* 

Pure  spirits  have  a  vivacity  of  intelligence  that  allows 
them  to  know  at  once  their  duties.  It  is  not  in  them  as 
in  man,  that  movements  and  acts  precede  reflection  and 
call  for  control,  f 

Simple  vision  supplying  in  them  for  all  deliberation,  a 
short  instant  is  enough  to  have  them  give  their  consent 
to  grace  or  refuse  it,  to  adhere  to  the  good  or  go  over 
to  the  bad,  to  merit  reward  or  incur  punishment.^ 

*  Immediately  after  one  act  to  which  charity  gave  life,  the  angel  was  in  the 
enjoyment  of  beatitude.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  63,  art.  6.) 

f  In  the  manner  in  which  those  movements  of  the  will  called  the  very  first,  i.  e. 
without  thought  or  consent,  take  place  in  us.  I  think  it  certain  that  no  such 
mode  of  the  will  is  found  naturally  in  the  angel.  (Suarez,  1.  3,  c.  4,  n.  16.) 

X  They  always  act  with  perfect  or  sufficient  advertence  of  the  intellect. 
(Suarez,  Ibid.)  ' 


104 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


IX. 

THE  COMBAT. 

To  chastise  the  crime,  and  strike  down  the  rebels, 
what  was  needed  on  God’s  part?  A  breath?  a  look? 
Less  than  that. 

But  God  had  other  designs.  To  do  the  first  act  of 
His  justice,  He  will  disdain  to  act  of  Himself,  and  will 
make  use  of  the  good  angels. 

On  the  threshold  of  the  double  eternity  opened  before 
us,  He  wills  that,  in  a  great  and  memorable  combat, 
humility  shall  be  exalted,  and  pride  confounded.* 

What  language,  what  image  will  be  able  to  paint  such 
an  event? 

Let  man  by  an  effort  of  his  spirit  represent  the 
harmony  of  creation,  all  at  once,  destroyed  ;  the  stars  be¬ 
come  so  many  giant  enemies  ;  constellations  armed 
against  constellations;  all  the  globes  of  the  heavens 
divided  into  two  camps. 

At  a  given  signal,  the  two  armies  rush  upon  each  other. 
They  clash,  they  charge,  they  mingle  with  a  noise  that 
neither  the  sound  of  storms  nor  the  roar  of  rushing  water 
will  ever  equal. 

Thousands  of  planets,  made  fragile  by  the  abandon¬ 
ment  of  the  laws  that  ruled  them,  fly  into  pieces,  and  fill 
with  their  ruins  the  fields  of  space.  Mutilated,  shattered, 


*  Apoc.,  c.  12,  v.  7. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  105 

rendered  useless,  they  see  themselves  relegated  to  an  ob¬ 
scure  corner  of  the  firmament. 

There,  powerless  ever  to  repair  their  disaster,  to  take 
again  their  luminous  crowns,  to  enter  once  again  the  gen¬ 
eral  harmony,  in  a  condition  of  eternal  ruin,  they  make 
known  by  their  sombre  aspect  the  rigor  of  justice. 

AncTthe  faithful  stars  ?  Following  their  course  through 
the  azure  vault,  more  brilliant  than  ever,  they  continue 
to  tell  the  glory  of  God,  and  find  ne w' accents  to  publish 
His  mercies. 

But  what  are  material  comparisons  to  express  the  im¬ 
posing  grandeur  of  a  strife,  where  was  to  be  seen  spirit 
against  spirit,  angel  against  angel. 

Consider  the  theatre  of  action,  the  adversaries,  the 
arms,  the  leaders,  the  interests  at  stake,  the  issue,  and 
say  if  ever  were  seen  combat  like  to  it.* 

The  theatre  is  the  place  where  we  were  created,  the 
place  -which  surrounds  the  material  world,  and  separates 
it  from  the  empyreum.  It  is  not  the  dwelling  place  of 
happiness  and  glory,  hut  it  is  the  vestibule  of  it,  and  we 
often  honor  it  with  the  name  of  heaven. 

The  armies  facing  each  other  comprise  an  innumerable 
multitude  and  extend  beyond  these  ethereal  plains,  where, . 
in  an  azure  ground,  man  sees  the  stars  sparkle. 

Their  discipline  is  perfect,  and  their  movements  are 
executed  with  harmonious  rapidity.  They  present  an 
imposing  aspect,  such  as  can  never  offer  those  heavy 
masses  they  call  armies  of  men.f 

*  The  contest  of  the  angels,  than  which  nothing  was  ever  more  terrible,  noth¬ 
ing  more  memorable,  whether  we  regard  the  number  of  combatants,  or  the 
authority  of  the  leaders,  or  the  cause  and  manner  of  battle,  or  the  kind  of  war, 
or  the  dignity  of  the  place,  or  the  misfortune  of  the  conquered,  or  the  reward 
and  duty  of  the  victors.  (Vivien,  on  St.  Michael.) 

f  What  are  men  to  angels  but  Pigmies  or  Mirmidons  compared  with  giants? 
(Ibid.)  i 


I 


106  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

The  arms  of  the  combatants  are  neither  brass,  nor 
iron,  nor  fire,  nor  fragile  matter.  They  consist  in  the 
resources  that  are  possessed  by  our  intelligence  and  will, 
the  secret  of  which  escapes  the  conception  of  man.* 

The  two  leaders  are  the  most  perfect  beings  of  crea¬ 
tion.  The  highest  having  become  by  his  revolt  the  prince 
of  evil,  recognizes  in  evil  no  power  superior  to  his.  The 
second  by  his  fidelity  the  first  of  the  heavenly  host,  sees 
above  him  only  the  authority  of  God. 

What  are  the  interests  at  stake  ?  What  lot  awaits  the 
conquerors? — what  the  vanquished?  Formidable  ques¬ 
tion,  the  voice  of  eternity  will  answer! 

Face  to  face  with  the  revolt,  no  hesitation,  no  delay. 

Our  zeal  bursts  forth  into  indignation,  and,  rapid  as 
thought,  we  throw  ourselves  upon  the  apostates. 

Puffed  up  with  presumption,  blinded  by  hate,  the  hos¬ 
tile  spirits  flatter  themselves  they  can  resist  the  shock  ; 
but,  demoralized  by  the  disorder  of  crime,  they  see 
in  action  disappear  as  vapor  the  superior  discipline  that 
directed  them.  Despoiled  of  wisdom  from  on  high,  re¬ 
duced  to  their  natural  resources,  they  act  at  hazard,  and 
without  result.f 

.  From  the  first  assault,  they  yield  and  are  overthrown. 
Their  chief  in  vain  cries  :  “  Arise,  arise  !  ”  He  himself 
feels  his  strength  leave  him,  and  remains  like  the  rest, 
stretched  out  upon  the  ground.  They  discover  in  us  a 
hidden  virtue  that  paralyzes  their  efforts.  It  is  the 
supernatural  power  of  grace  and  of  the  gifts  of  God,  be¬ 
fore  which  all  natural  virtue  is  reduced  to  impotence. ^ 

*  The  battle  was  between  intellect  and  intellect,  will  and  will.  (Ibid.) 

f  The  adornment  of  the  angel  is  wisdom  ;  but  he  lost  it  when  he  claimed  it  as 
his  own.  (St.  Bernard,  Serm.  74.) 

I  Therefore  the  apostate  angel  is  deprived  of  it,  when  he  wished  to  assert  that 
his  strength  was  from  himself  and  not  from  God.  (St.  Eucher,  on  Genesis,  c:  1.) 

■>  ’  •  i 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


107 


Spirits  of  the  highest  rank  are  overthrown  by  those  of 
whom  they  had  been  the  chiefs,  and  whom  they  had 
commanded.  Thrice  hitter  is  their  humiliation,  seeing 
themselves  thrust  into  the  abyss  by  those  who  were  their 
inferiors  or  their  equals. 

Driven  ignominiously  from  the  eminence  where  the  trial 
was  had,  they  are  powerless  to  return  thither.  Neither 
the  magnificent  places  they  have  occupied,  nor  the  more 
beautiful  places  promised  them,  will  ever  be  seen  by  their 
eyes.* 

We  saw  them  fall  like  lightning,  bury  themselves  in 
darkness,  roll  in  black  whirlwinds  :  it  is  over. 

_ _ _ I _ _ 

*  Apoc.,  c.  12,  v.  8. 


\ 


/ 


108 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


X. 

THE  CURSE. 

Lucifer  is  no  more.  No  ;  he  is  no  longer  the  hearer 
of  light,  the  one  who  was  the  first  of  the  spirits.  The 
crown  has  fallen  from  his  brow.  What  a  change! 
What  deformity  !  Is  an  angel  without  a  crown  still  an 
angel  ? 

Satan  is  as  hideous  as  Lucifer  was  beautiful.*  In  him 
nature  has  not  been  changed:  it  possesses  intact  its  pri¬ 
mitive  faculties.  But  instead  of  being  adorned,  as 
formerly,  with  the  splendor  of  grace,  it  is  obscured  by 
the  darkness  of  evil.  The  brilliant  spirit  is  only  the 
monstrous  dragon  distilling  poison,  and  uttering  his  roar,  f 

What  has  become  of  his  unfortunate  partisans?  Be¬ 
hold  them  transformed  into  so  many  demons.  Sweet 
and  smiling  stars  in  the  morning,  in  the  evening  they 
have  become  sinister  meteors,  casting  a  darkened  light 
and  inspiring  alarm. 

It  is  the  first  general  judgment  that  God  has  just  pro¬ 
nounced.  A  judgment  opens  the  series  of  ages  ;  a  judg¬ 
ment  will  close  it.  For  the  first  time  justice  has  en¬ 
throned  herself  as  sovereign  and  has  avenged  mercy. 
She  has  pronounced  the  irrevocable  sentence: 

“  Depart  from  me,  accursed,  into  eternal  fire  prepared 
for  the  devil  and  his  angels. ” 

*  He  who  was  the  bearer  oi'  light  on  account  of  his  splendor,  from  pride  became 
darkness.  (St.  Greg.  Naz.,  Orat.  42.) 
f  Apoc,,  c.  12. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPB. 


109 


The  execution  follows  at  once.  The  malediction  de¬ 
scends  upon  the  wicked  spirits,  as  lightning  upon  plants 
accustomed  to  refreshing  dew.  It  envelops  them,  it 
penetrates  them,  invades  everything  in  them. 

Accursed  in  their  intelligence,  they  have  lost  the 
source  of  supernatural  knowledge  which  filled  them  with 
delight.  Their  natural  light,  a  feeble  glimmer  now,  in 
the  midst  of  the  moral  darkness  which  surrounds  them. 

Accursed  in  their  memory,  they  have  in  it  only  the 
bitter  recollection  of  a  happy  past  that  will  never  return. 
State  of  grace,  magnificent  promises,  glorious  destiny, 
all  had  disappeared.  The  measure  of  their  torments 
shall  be  never  to  be  able  to  forget  that  this  great  ship¬ 
wreck  is  entirely  due  to  their  own  fault. 

Accursed  in  their  heart,  they  feel  themselves  made  to 
love  and  are  destined  to  hate.  God,  the  Angels,  men, 
the  material  world,  their  companions  in  misfortune,  are 
for  them  objects  of  aversion. 

Accursed  in  their  will,  they  shall  always  desire  what 
will  never  be,  and  will  always  see  with  disgust  what  shall 
be  ever.*  Perpetually  in  revolt,  perpetually  repressed, 
their  will  shall  be  fixed  in  that  state  of  violence  which  is 
the  punishment  proper  to  spirits. 

Accursed  in  their  liberty,  they  are  punished  for  the 
use  they  have  made  of  it  by  the  chains  which  bind 
them  ;  terrible  chains,  which  extend  to  their  whole  being 
and  enthrall  all  their  powers. 

Accursed  in  their  beauty,  they  are  punished  for  the 
disordered  complacency  they  took  in  it,  by  that  hideous- 


*  What  punishment  is  so  great  as  always  to  will  what  will  never  be.  and  to 
ever  shrink  from  what  will  never  not  be  ?  (St.  Bernard,  Consid .,  1.  5,  c.  12.) 


110 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


ness  of  evil  which  renders  them  objects  of  horror  for 
others  and  themselves. 

Accursed  in  their  immortality,  instead  of  the  delights 
of  former  days,  they  find  in  it  only  motives  of  despair. 
They  know  that  this  future  without  end  which  was  to 
have  been  the  duration  of  their  happiness  shall  be  that 
of  their  torments. 

Aspiring  to  ascend,  they  are  fatally  constrained  to  de¬ 
scend;  endowed  with  indestructible  life,  and  condemned 
to  die  constantly;*  Always  attached  to  themselves  and 
always  repelling  themselves,  they  will  remain  the  seat  of 
all  contradictions  and  of  all  lies.f 

They  wanted  to  separate  from  God.  To  punish  them 
for  this,  God  had  only  to  withdraw  Himself  from  them. 
Their  perfections  became  at  once  their  executioners,  and 
they  are  a  hell  to  themselves. J 

*  The  traitor  angels,  though  dead  by  sin,  could  not,  however,  so  die  as  to  wholly 
cease  to  live  and  feel.  (St.  Aug.,  City  of  God,  1. 14,  c.  24.) 

f  Woe  to  the  perverse  wills  paying  only  the  penalty  of  their  turning  away 
from  God  !  (St.  Bernard,  Consid.,  1.  5,  c.  6.) 

I  Bossuet,  Sermon  on  the  Demons. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH . 


111 


XL 

HELL. 

Cast  down  from  «the  eminence  of  the  place  of  trial, 
the  wicked  spirits  have  fallen  into  the  depth  called 
Gehenna,  or  Hell.* 

Hell!  Before  going  through  the  circles  of  this  dark 
abyss,  the  great  Italian  poet  read  above  the  door  this 
inscription. 

u  Through  me  one  enters  the  city  of  tears  ;  through 
me  one  enters  into  pain  eternal  ;  through  me  one  goes  to 
the  outcast  race. 

“  Justice  animated  my  sublime  Architect:  I  was  made 
by  Omnipotence  Divine,  Supreme  Wisdom,  Primal  Love. 

“  Before  me  nothing  was  created  ;  only  the  eternal 
was  ;  and  I  endure  eternal.  Leave  all  hope  you  who 
enter.”! 

The  demons  have  entered  ;  they  have  left  behind  all 
hope  :  there  they  are  in  the  City  of  Despair. 

To  the  moral  torment  of  this  malediction  is  joined  for 
them  the  physical  pain  of  fire  4 

A  fire  created  by  Divine  justice  seizes  upon  them  and 
makes  them  feel  unspeakable  sufferings.  The  flames  of 
this  fire  form  the  chains  of  their  captivity.  They  con- 

*  The  Catholic  faith  teaches  there  is  one  place  of  corporal  punishment  deputed 
by  God  for  the  damned,  whether  demons  or  men.  (Suarez,  1.  8,  c.  16,  n.  2.) 

f  Dante,  Inferno,  canto  3.) 

X  St.  Math.,  c.  25,  v.  41. 


- 


112  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

strict  them  and  dominate  their  movements.  They  are 
like  the  human  soul  in  a  body  of  fire.* 

The  most  perfect  in  nature,  those  who  have  received 
the  most  grace,  would  have  been  able  to  do  the  most  ex¬ 
cellent  things,  merit  the  most  beautiful  reward,  and  who 
gave  themselves  over  to  evil  with  the  most  vehemence, 
are  made  conspicuous  by  avenging  flames,  and  are  more 
rigorously  tortured. 

When  the  last  vestige  of  time  will  have  disappeared, 
when  the  last  moment  will  have  come,  when  eternity  only 
shall  be,  how  represent  the  situation  of  Satan  and  his 
punishment  ? 

Perhaps,  flying  in  the  face  of  evidence,  as  on  the  day 
of  his  sin,  he  will  make  a  last  effort  to  burst  his  bonds 
and  escape. 

Behold  him  in  an  ocean  of  flames,  mounting,  descend¬ 
ing,  going,  coming,  flying  in  every  direction,  seeking  a 
way  out. 

Nothing!  Nothing!  Nothing!  Vault,  walls,  pavements, 
everything  impassable.  Everywhere  darkness  ;  every¬ 
where  fire  ;  everywhere  torture  ! 

In  despair  he  gives  up  all  movement,  abandons  him¬ 
self  to  his  own  weight,  falls  to  the  centre  of  hell. 

There,  in  the  midst  of  the  reprobate,  with  them,  like 
them,  his  eye  fixed  on  the  seal  of  Divine  Justice,  he  un¬ 
dergoes  the  punishment  without  change,  perpetual,  eter¬ 
nal,  of  the  first  apostates. 


*  There  is  no  doubt  that  the  damned  spirits  are  bound  to  the  fire  of  hell,  as  to 
a  perpetual  prison.  (Suarez,  1.  8,  c.  14,  n.  5.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


113 


XII. 

NO  RETURN. 

V 

Man  is  ingenious  in  deceiving  himself  regarding  the 
rigor  of  Divine  Justice.  He  has  recourse  to  fiction 
which  removes  it  from  his  sight,  and  lies  to  himself. 
Listen  to  the  legend  his  imagination  has  given  birth  to. 

In  the  days  of  the  trial  two  angels  were  united  in  close 
friendship.  When  the  term  was  reached,  one  found  him¬ 
self  in  the  camp  of  Michael,  the  other  in  that  of  Lucifer; 
one  was  crowned,  the  other  accursed.  See  them  sepa¬ 
rated  by  an  abyss  ! 

It  happened,  after  many  long  years,  that  these  two 
angels  met  at  the  side  of  the  same  soul;  the  one  had 
been  given  that  soul  to  protect  it,  the  other  came  to 
tempt  it. 

At  this  interview,  the  first  after  the  separation,  remorse 
pierced  the  heart  of  the  guilty  one.  He  recognizes  and 
confesses  his  fault,  gives  forth  heart-rending  sighs,  pro¬ 
tests  his  repentance,  asks  pardon. 

The  faithful  angel  joins  his  supplications  to  those  of 
his  desolate  brother.  God  permits  Himself  to  yield. 
He  forgives,  and  the  two  angels,  falling  into  the  arms  the 
one  of  the  other,  bless  together  the  Divine  Mercy.* 

Sweet,  graceful  picture  ! — but  a  picture  without  reality, 
absolutely  contrary  to  the  event. 


*  Klopstoek,  The  Messiad,  chant  19. 

4* 


114 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


No  spirit  that  has  once  fallen  has  ever  risen.  None 
will  rise  ;  yet  more,  none  will  aspire  to  rise. 

The  fall  is  for  angels  what  death  is  to  man.  It  gives 
him  up  to  eternity,  and  eternity  renders  him  immovable 
in  the  state  in  which  it  receives  him.* 

The  evil  spirits  know  the  impossibility  in  which  they 
are  of  retracing  their  steps.  They  know  that  their  return 
to  the  good  path  would  require  an  efficacious  and  meri¬ 
torious  repentance,  which  they  will  never  have.  They 
could  only  have  it  by  grace,  and  grace  will  be  refused 
them.  Were  it  offered  them,  they  would  refuse  it. 

Let  God  come  to  one  of  these  spirits  and  say  :  “  Dost 
thou  desire  the  splendors  of  My  heaven?  its  delights,  its 
eternity?  Bow  down,  submit,  make  an  act  of  love.” 
An  act  of  love  ?  At  these  words,  with  frightful  howl, 
the  Spirit  will  answer  :  “  I  bate  God  I  ”f 

The  spirits  oft  darkness  abhor  existence  because  they 
have  received  it  of  God,  and  still  they  hold  to  it  because 
it  permits  them  to  hate  Him.f 

Such  is  the  perversity  of  celestial  spirits  ! 

Celestial  ?  No  ;  such  they  have  been — they  are  such 
no  longer.  They  are  spirits  of  hell — they  are  demons. 
By  this  perversion  has  not  that  which  was  best  become 
in  every  way  the  worst  ?|| 

Instead  of  using  their  faculties  for  good,  the  demons 
abuse  them  for  ill.  Their  deliberate  acts  are  alwavs  bad. 

*  What  death  is  to  men,  the  fall  is  to  angels.  (St.  John  Damasc.,  On  Faith ,  I. 
2,  c.  4;  St.  Greg,  of  Nyssa,  1. 1,  Phil.,  c.  3.) 

f  Revelations  of  St.  Gertrude. 

Î  The  demon  hates  God,  by  a  general  and  formal  act  of  hatred,  or  by  partic¬ 
ular  acts — acts  of  blasphemy,  malediction,  or  insult,  or  of  evil  at  least  procured 
externally,  or  of  hate  of  God  in  His  creature,  especially  in  man.  (Suarez,  1.  8,  c. 
11,  n.  20.) 

||  The  corruption  of  the  best  is  the  worst. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  115 

They  can  be  materially  good  ;  they  are  never  morally 
so.* 

When  devils  tell  the  truth,  it  is  to  lead  into  error  ; 
when  they  avow  it,  it  is  because  they  cannot  deny  it; 
when  they  shed  around  light,  it  is  to  prepare  the  way  to 
darkness.  Their  intelligence  is  blinded,  their  heart 
hardened  ;  evil  and  hatred  are  their  element. 

Excluded  from  that  beautiful  heaven  where  the  delights 
of  charity  awaited  them — banished  from  the  place  of  trial 
where  hope  smiled  upon  them — they  will  have  for  their 
country  the  dwelling-place  of  hate,  for  companion  despair. 
If  a  superior  power  one  day  compels  them  to  reveal  the 
only  name  that  is  suited  to  them,  they  will  cry  out: 
“  Creatures  without  love.”f 

*  The  act  of  the  devil  proceeding  from  a  free*will  is  always  bad.  Although  he 
should  sometimes  do  what  is  good,  it  is  not  a  good  work.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  64, 
art.  2.)  No  vestige  of  a  good  will  remains  in  them.  (St.  Fulgentius,  De  Trin.  c. 
80 

f  Answer  of  a  devil  in  an  exorcism. 


N. 


116 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


XIII. 

NO  REDEMPTION. 

\ 

After  the  fall  of  man  we  shall  see  consolations,  pro¬ 
mises,  heavenly  interventions,  touching  appeals,  ravish¬ 
ing  mysteries,  succeed  each  other.  There  will  be  a  plan 
of  mercy  in  view  of  a  restoration. 

After  the  fall  of  the  angels  there  was  nothing  of  this. 
Heaven  remains  closed  ;  the  oracles  are  mute  ;  no  mercy 
is  shewn;  everywhere  justice.  No  restoration  is  pro¬ 
posed  ;  no  salvation  is  promised  ;  for  the  angels  there  is 
no  redemption.* 

This  greater  severity  towards  the  angels  has  its 
foundation  in  their  greater  culpability. f  More  perfect 
by  nature,  it  was  easier  for  them  not  to  sin,!  and  they 
did  not  have  in  their  fall  the  extenuating  circumstances 
man  had  in  his. 

The  angels  had  received  more  light  for  truth.  They 
seized  more  promptly  and  completely  the  divine  revela¬ 
tions.  They  understood  better  the  extent  and  the  con¬ 
sequences  of  their  acts. || 

The  angels  were  not  chained  to  a  substance  which 
was  material,  obscuring  their  view,  hindering  their  opera- 

*  St.  Peter  ii,  c.  2,  v.  4.  Heb.,  e.  2,  v.  16. 

f  The  sin  of  the  devil  is  greater  than  man’s.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  64,  art.  3.) 

X  So  much  the  more  damnable  was  the  fault  judged,  the  more  sublime  the  na¬ 
ture.  (St.  Aug.  on  St.  John,  110.) 

1  The  angel  sinned  with  full  will,  on  account  of  perfect  clearness  of  mind. 
(Cassian,  Conf.,  4,  c.  3.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  117 

1  . 

tions,  having  inclinations  of  different  nature,  experiencing 
various  appetites,  having  a  thousand  temptations  work¬ 
ing  a  sort  of  dualism  constant  and  dangerous.* 

The  angels  were  not  a  prey  to  persecution  from  an 
enemy  superior  in  nature,  insidious,  powerful,  jealous, 
and  resolved  to  drag  them  down  to  ruin,  knowing  too 
their  vulnerable  points. f 

Before  giving  themselves  to  evil,  by  their  personal 
malice,  they  were  not  weakened  in  their  nature,  as  will 
be  the  posterity  of  Adam.  Their  nature  had  not  been 
vitiated,  their  free  will  harmed,  their  strength  less¬ 
ened.!  ,  / 

•  t 

Finally  in  his  fall,  man  has  recognized  his  fault  and 
has  humbled  himself;  in  their  rebellion  the  angels  main¬ 
tained  their  pride  and  obstinacy.  Who  had  ever  greater 
need  of  mercy  than  one  in  misery  ?  but  who  is  more  un¬ 
worthy  of  mercy  than  a  man  poor  and  proud  ?|| 

*  Man  who  is  fragile  sinned  through  weakness  of  the  flesh  ;  the  angel,  how¬ 
ever,  is  pure,  strong  spirit.  (St.  John  Damasc.,  On  Faith ,  1. 2,  c.  3.) 

f  The  angel  sinned,  no  one  persuading  ;  man  at  the  suggestion  of  the  devil. 
(St.  Greg.,  Morals,  1.  4,  c.  9.) 

|  In  the  angels  not  all  nature  fell,  hut  only  a  part  ;  hut  in  man  the  whole  na¬ 
ture  fell.  (St.  Aug.,  Encheridion,  c.  29.) 

H  What  is  so  worthy  of  compassion  as  a  poor  man  ?  What  so  unworthy  as  a  poor 
proud  man?  (St.  Aug.,  On  Free  Will ,  1.  3,  c.  10.) 


I 


118  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


XIV. 

THE  ACTION  OF  GRACE. 

Standing  on  the  field  of  battle  made  illustrious  by  the 
victory  of  the  good  angels  and  the  defeat  of  the  bad,  the 
commander  of  the  armies  of  God  addressed  the  triumph¬ 
ant  multitude. 

.“  Behold!”  he  cried,  “to  what  separation  from  the 
Sovereign  God  leads  ! 

“  And  see  from  what  the  aid  of  grace  has  preserved 
us  ! 

“  Fathom  with  your  look  these  depths  ;  measure  these 
heights  in  the  presence  of  our  glorious  destiny  ;  consider 
the  lot  of  these  unfortunates  who  will  never  more  be  our 
brethren. 

“  That  spectacle,  faithful  Angels  !  was  necessary  for  us, 
it  was  necessary  to  give  our  hymns  of  eternity  the  ac¬ 
cent  of  full  gratitude.*” 

And  all  with  our  chief  and  standard-bearer  sang  : 

“  Hosanna  to  the  Most  High  ! 

“By  us  He  has  manifested  the  strength  of  His  arm, 
and  covered  creation  with  the  proofs  of  His  victory  ! 

“  Hosanna  to  the  Most  High  ! 

“He  has  made  the  fool  who  wished  to  equal  the  Word 
know  Him,  and  has  repressed  His  audacity.  May  His 
justice  be  ever  glorified,  His  mercy  ever  exalted! 

*  That  the  beatitude  of  the  saints  may  be  more  acceptable  to  them,  and’  that 
they  may  give  greater  thanks  to  God  for  it,  it  is  given  them  to  see  perfectly  the 
punishment  of  the  damned.  (St.  Thomas,  suppl.,  q.  94,  art.  1.) 


/ 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


119 


j 

r 

“  Hosanna  to  the  Most  High  ! 

“  Let  us  do  our  duty  to  God  and  to  ourselves  ;  let  us 
pay  the  debt  of  our  heart.  To  whom  do  we  owe  our 
being  ?  To  whom  our  life  ?  To  whom  our  holiness  ? 
To  whom  our  happiness?  To  Him  benediction,  glory, 
gratitude  forever! 

u Hosanna  to  the  Most  High!”* 

The  Hosanna  is  universal,  the  Te  Deum  immense,  the 
Gloria  without  end  to  the  Three  Adorable  Persons. 

And  ever  before  us  is  our  debt  of  gratitude  whole  and 
entire.  Eternity  itself  will  leave  it  unpaid. 

To  praise  God  as  He  deserves,  and  return  Him  thanks 
worthy  of  Him,  man  in  his  impotence  would  wish  to  bor 
row  the  heart  and  voice  of  an  angel  ;  but  the  angel,  more 
enlightened,  understands  that  he  would  need  the  voice 
and  heart  of  a  God. 

*  The  angels  are  on  high  ;  they  owe  it  to  Thee  that  it  is  so  ;  they  owe  it  to 
Thee  that  they  live;  they  owe  it  to  Thee  that  they  live  justly;  they  owe  it  to 
Thee  that  they  live  in  happiness.  (St.  Aug.  on  Ps.,  70.) 

.  '  •  y-s 

/ 


BOOK  THIRD. 


THE  OUTPOURING  OF  DIVINE  GOODNESS 

IN  THE  ANGEL. 

V  i  •  / 

»  " 

I. 

J  s.  .  S  V 

TRIUMPH. 

From  the  wonders  of  grace  to  the  splendors  of  glory, 
there  is  a  new  interval  to  pass  over,  a  new  and  more 
magnificent  ascent  to  make. 

Interpreter  of  my  thoughts,  fall  here  on  thy  knees  ; 
prostrate  thyself  ;  strike  thy  breast,  and  with  more  rea¬ 
son  than  the  son  of  Amos,  present  to  the  purifying  ac¬ 
tion  of  fire  seraphic  thy  lips  and  thy  heart. 

Whilst  thy  hand  will  continue  to  write,  thou  art  going 
to  feel  thy  soul  leap  with  joy,  thy  heart  become  inflamed, 
thy  faculties  more  harmonious. 

Above  our  heads  a  voice  is  heard,  sweet  as  a  melody, 
lively  as  love  ;  “Come!  come!” 

“  Come,  adorers  of  My  divinity,  witnesses  of  My  wis¬ 
dom,  defenders  of  My  rights,  ministers  of  My  justice, 
avengers  of  My  glory. 

“  In  the  heat  of  the  combat  I  was  with  you  ;  I  saw 
your  zeal,  applauded  your  devotion,  garnered  the  great 
acts  of  your  fidelity. 


(120) 


7  r 

MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  121 

“After  the  battle,  the  triumph;  after  labor,  reward; 
enter  into  the  joy  of  your  God!  ” 

At  once  the  Empyreum  opens  ;  the  veil  is  rent  ;  the 
.  bosom  of  God  is  revealed  ;  there  is  no  longer  distance  ! 
There  below,  time  and  creation  ;  here,  before  us,  around 
us,  in  Us,  the  uncreated,  the  immense,  the  eternal  ! 

From  every  heart  goes  forth  the  same  acclamation  :  0 
ravishing  beauty  !  0  sweetness  ineffable  !  0  divine  happi¬ 
ness!  0  God  thrice  good  as  thrice  holy  !  We  are  then  the 
first-born  of  thy  love,  thy  first  conquest,  thy  first  elect  ! 

We  have  passed  the  threshold  none  heretofore  has 
trodden,  stepped  upon  the  soil  no  foot  has  pressed,  rested 
our  eyes  upon  that  Infinite  Being  none  has  hitherto  seen. 

We  formed  the  first  court  of  honor  to  the  Most  High. 
We  are  the  first  gems  of  His  crown,  the  first  rays  of  His 
glory,  the  first  splendor  of  His  raiment,  the  first  perfume 
of  His  divinity,  the  first  fruits  of  His  grace.* 

To-day,  it  is  no  longer  grace  transforming  nature, 
yenetrating  it,  making  it  productive.  It  is  glory  spring¬ 
ing  from  grace,  as  from  the  obscure  germ  comes  forth  the 
elegant  stem,  as  from  the  stem  buds  the  sweet-scented 
flower. 

Fresh  crowns  are  on  our  brows  ;  waving  palms  are  in 
our  hands  ;  to  each  one  has  been  assigned  a  throne  of 
precious  stones  and  diamonds. 

From  every  point  of  heaven  bursts  forth  a  harmony  of 
voices  and  of  golden  harps  ;  an  immense  light  envelopes 
us  ;  a  river  of  delights  inundates  us  ;  our  ears,  our  eyes, 
our  hearts,  are  in  like  manner  ravished. 

Our  voices  have  acquired  a  new  expression  ;  our 

*  He  is  clad  in  precious  garments,  because  He  has  taken  for  His  ornament  the 
choirs  of  angels  whom  He  made.  (St.  Greg.,  Morals  ;  on  Job,  1.  32.) 


\ 


122 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


I 


hearts  give  themselves  up  to  new  emotions .  The  canticle 
of  thanksgiving  is  continued  in  a  manner  hitherto  un¬ 
known;  we  bless  God  as  we  never  did  before,  and  we 
say  again,  in  the  language  of  our  country,  the  words  first 
used  in  that  of  the  trial — Who  is  like  unto  God  ? 

0  Eternal  God  !  during  the  interminable  series  of 
years  just  opened  every  creature  will  bless  Thee  ;  but  to 
Thy  angels  it  will  be  given  to  bless  Thee  for  the  favor  of 
having  been  admitted  to  Thy  bosom  from  the  commence¬ 
ment,  of  having  been  admitted  all  together,  of  having 
been  preceded  in  the  beatific  vision  only  by  Thyself. 


) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


123 


II. 

CLEAR  VISION. 

Tiie  foundation  of  our  happiness  is  in  vision.  Vision, 
revealing  to  us  the  amiable  qualities  of  the  Infinite  Being, 
gives  birth  in  us  to  love  and  inebriates  us  with  delight.* 

But  the  gratitude  produced  by  the  vision  of  heaven  is 
very  different  from  the  gratitude  man  has  on  earth. 

In  heaven  we  see  God  in  Himself,  and  creatures,  in 
their  archetypes,  in  the  bosom  of  God. 

On  earth  man  sees  creatures  in  themselves,  and  God  in 
the  image  which  creatures  present  of  Him. 

The  first  of  these  cognitions  proceeds  from  the  author 
to  the  work  ;  the  second  from  the  work  to  the  author. 

One  of  delicate  genius,  transformed  by  grace,  will  call 
the  former  matutinal,  because  it  is  clear  and  pure  as  the 
dawn;  he  will  call  the  second  vespertinal,  because  it  is 
always  more  or  less  cloudy  and  confused.f 

Another  friend  of  the  angel  will  write,  on  earth,  these 
beautiful  words,  which  he  will  come  to  tell  us  in  heaven. 

.  it 

“That  visible  things  proclaim  the  invisible  to  those 
who  dwell  upon  the  earth,  is  their  part  and  nature,  their 
mission.  For  those  who  are  elevated  above  the  world 
and  have  ceased  to  inhabit  it,  these  means  are  superflu¬ 
ous. 

*  On  the  two  kinds  of  knowledge,  see  St.  Aug.,  City  of  God ,  1. 11,  c*  9,  and  on 
Genesis ,  1.  4,  c.  18  ;  St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  58,  art.  6. 

f  The  ultimate  and  perfect  beatitude  can  only  be  in  the  vision  of  the  divine 
essence.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  ii.,  q.  3,  art.  8.) 


124 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


“  What  good  is  a  ladder  to  those  who  have  already 
reached  the  threshold  ?*  What  good  is  the  reflection  and 
image  to  those  who  contemplate  the  face  itself?” 

We  have  at  one  and  the  same  time  both  the  one  kind 
of  knowledge  and  the  other;  but  the  matutinal  know¬ 
ledge  eclipses  in  us  the  vespertinal. 

The  demons,  whose  look  will  never  raise  itself  to  the 
bosom  of  God,  and  who  never  see  God  save  through  the 
thousand  veils  of  their  malice,  have  neither  kind  of  knowl¬ 
edge  ;  they  have  the  nocturnal. f 

The  living  book  of  the  bosom  of  God  is  written  in 
magnificent  characters.  We  read  there  without  page  or 
syllable.  The  full  truth  appears  to  us  in  a  sure  and  per¬ 
fect  light,  such  as  it  exists  in  the  conception  of  God  Him¬ 
self.  Wonderful  book,  which  never  closes  nor  folds  up, 
and  which  lays  up  in  our  hearts  what  we  read  there. f 
But  that  we  might  be  able  to  read  the  divine  book,  it  was 
necessary  that  our  intelligence  should  undergo  a  trans¬ 
formation,  and  be  elevated  above  its  natural  condition. 

In  itself  a  created  faculty  is  not  only  not  in  proportion 
to  glory,  it  is  without  any  possible  relation  with  it  ;  it 
can  in  no  way  attain  to  it:  God  is  essentially  invisible  to 
an  intelligence  created  and  finite,  left  in  its  sphere. || 
Divine  omnipotence  has  communicated  tÿ  our  intelli- 


*  And  truly  what  need  of  a  ladder  for  one  who  has  reached  the  threshold? 
(St.  Bernard,  Consid.,  1.  5,  c.  1.) 

f  But  if  cognition  be  not  referred  to  God,  as  in  the  case  of  demons,  it  is  not 
said  to  be  of  evening,  but  of  night.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  64,  art.  1.) 

J  They  read  there,  without  the  syllable  of  time,  what  the  eternal  will  demands. 
They  always  read,  nor  does  what  they  read  pass  from  the  mind.  Their  code  is 
not  closed,  nor  is  their  book  folded,  for  Thou  art  this  to  them,  and  this  Thou 
art  eternally.  (St.  August.,  Confessions,  1.  13,  c.  15.) 

||  It  is  impossible  for  any  created  intellect  to  see  God  by  its  natural  endow¬ 
ments.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  12,  art.  4.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


125 


gence  the  light  of  glory,  an  interior  and  intrinsic  light 
which  immediately  affects  it  and  gives  it  a  supernatural 
vigor. 

The  object  of  our  vision  has  not  changed;  it  has  re¬ 
mained  in  the  light  whence  it  shone  ;  but  our  faculty  of 
seeing  has  received  a  property  it  had  not  before.* 

That  the  bird  of  night  should  be  able  to  fix  his  gaze 
upon  the  sun,  like  the  eagle,  it  would  not  be  enough  to 
condense  on  his  eye  the  rays  of  the  star  ;  it  would  be 
necessary  that  the  organization  of  his  eye  undergo  a 
transformation. 

On  receiving  the  intellectual  gift,  we  are  no  longer 
dazzled. f  In  the  midst  of  the  darkness  that  seemed  the 
thicker  the  brighter  the  light,  our  intelligence  seized  at 
once  its  object.  No  longer  a  veil  of  any  kind,  no  longer 
any  intermediary,  no  longer  any  reflection,  no  longer  any 
image — God  in  Himself,  God  such  as  He  is,  God  face  to 
face  4 

*  Since  the  natural  power  of  the  intellect  does  not  suffice  to  see  God’s  essence, 
it  is  necessary  that  the  power  to  understand  should  supervene  by  divine  grace, 
and  we  call  the  increase  of  intellectual  power  illumination  of  the  intellect,  as  that 
which  is  understood  is  called  the  lamp  or  light.  (St.  Thomas,  i.,  q.  12,  art.  5.) 
This  enlightening  influence  dilates  immensely  the  soul  so  that  it  becomes  capable 
of  receiving  divinity.  (Lessius,  De  Summo  Bono,  1.  2,  c.  16.) 

f  The  light  of  divine  glory  strengthening  the  intellect  that  it  may  see  God. 
(St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  12,  art.  2.) 

Î  Vision  is  the  imprinted  image  of  divinity  in  some  way  equalling  it.  (Lessius, 
De  Summo  Bono,  1.  2.) 


126  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


HI. 

THE  BOSOM  OF  GOD. 

Thus  was  vision  brought  about  in  us.  To  describe  its 
object  would  be  to  tell  of  the  wonders  of  the  bosom  of 
God.  If  these  wonders  could  be  told  in  the  language  of 
man,  man  would  already  have  knowledge  of  them. 

A  soul  that  had  not  yet  passed  the  threshold  of  death 
appeared  one  day  among  us.  Carried  by  a  superior 
force,  it  passed  the  first  heaven,  the  second,  arrived  at 
the  third,  and  could  consider  for  an  instant  what  we 
contemplate. 

Having  returned  to  the  midst  of  men,  it  could  only  re¬ 
peat  ;  “  Eye  hath  not  seen,  ear  hath  not  heard,  nor 
hath  it  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  to  conceive  what 
things  God  has  prepared  for  those  that  love  Him.”*  ' 

Thus  by  the  great  voice  of  Paul  was  made  manifest 
the  impotence  of  human  language  to  recount  the  won¬ 
ders  of  the  bosom  of  God. 

Imagine  men  shut  up  in  a  cavern  from  birth.  No 
ray  of  light  has  ever  reached  them.  They  know  no 
other  light  than  that  of  the  torch  lit  by  their  hands. 

They  are  told  that  over  their  heads  exists  a  world 
vaster,  more  luminous,  more  beautiful.  An  effort  is  made 
to  describe  to  them  the  spectacle  they  will  one  day  enjoy. 

What  do  they  understand  of  such  language  ?  What 
ideas  will  they  form  of  the  objects  described?  It  is  the 


*  St.  Paul,  1  Cor.,  L,  c.  2,  v.  9. 


I 


\ 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  127 

same  as  if  one  talked  of  sound  to  the  deaf,  of  color  to  the 
blind. 

’  Tis  a  thankless  task  to  tell  them  over  and  over  the 
words  that  correspond  to  the  reality.  These  words  are 
powerless  to  awaken  in  them  the  ideas  which  they  recall 
to  those  who  have  seen  such  things. 

Suppose  the  vault  of  the  cavern  parts  and  opens  ;  that 
the  world  above  appears;  that  these  men  find  them¬ 
selves  transported  to  open  day — what  exclamations  !  what 
excess  of  delight! 

This  sun  and  that  azure,  these  mountains  and  those 
plains,  these  rivers  and  those  forests,  these  meadows  and 
those  flowers,  these  tempests  and  those  calms,  this  har¬ 
mony  and  contrast,  this  color  and  life,  the  land,  the 
ocean,  this  whole  heaven,  the  mysteries  of  the  night,  all 
the  splendor  of  the  day — what  a  sight  !  and  what  impres¬ 
sions  in  the  new  beholders.* 

For  us  the  vault  of  the  nether  world  has  parted  ;  a 
new  world  has  appeared  to  us  ;  before  us  has  unfolded 
veritable  space  ;  to  our  eyes  has  been  revealed  the  real 
universe — ’tis  the  uncreated,  ’tis  the  bosom  of  God. 

The  angels  unfold  their  wings  ;  rapid  as  their  desires, 
they  fly  in  every  direction;  they  go  from  discovery  to 
discovery,  from  wonder  to  wonder.  The  solitude,  ani- 

*  Aristotle  says  excellently:  ‘‘If  there  were  those  who  had  always  dwelt  un¬ 
derground  .  .  .nor  had  ever  come  above  it;  still  had  learned  by  report  and 
hearsay  that  there  was  a  certain  influence  and  power  of  the  gods;  then,  some¬ 
time  the  earth  opening  its  throat,  it  were  given  them  to  escape  from  their  place 
of  hiding  to  the  places  we  inhabit  ;  when  they  would  suddenly  see  the  earth,  the 
waters  and  the  heavens, .  .  .  behold  the  sun,  its  greatness  and  beauty,  and  know 
its  ethciency,  that  it  brought  about  the  day,  with  light  diffused  through  the 
■whole  heavens;  when  night  would  bring  on  darkness  over  the  earth,  and  they 
should  see  the  whole  vault  of  heaven  spangled  and  adorned  with  stars,  .  .  .  see¬ 
ing  this,  they  would  certainly  judge  that  there  are  gods,  and  that  these  great 
things  are  the  works  of  the  gods.”  (Cicero,  on  the  nature  of  the  gods,  1.  2,  c.  37. 


128 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


mated  from  eternity  by  the  Divine  Word  alone,  is  in 
emotion,  for  the  first  time  it  echoes  hack  the  sound  of  the 
voices  it  has  been  awaiting.* 

Abruptly  called  to  the  light  of  day,  the  men  whom  we 
have  supposed  shut  up  in  a  cavern  would  be  dazzled. 
They  would  admire  what  they  saw  without  comprehend¬ 
ing  it,  they  would  have  the  sight  of  it  without  under¬ 
standing  it. 

Scientists  themselves,  who  during  a  long  life  have  con¬ 
templated  these  wonders,  understand  them  no  better. 

When,  after  long  study,  human  genius  succeeds  in 
seizing  some  secret  of  the  mechanism  of  nature,  it  goes 
into  transports,  and  cries,  beside  himself:  “I  have  found 
it  !”  “I  have  found  it  !  ” 

i  ^ 

What  darkness  in  a  spirit  in  which  a  glimmer  is  wel¬ 
comed  as  a  brilliant  aurora  or  as  full  day  ! 

In  the  supernatural  universe  of  the  bosom  of  God, 
there  is  nothing  of  the  sort. 

For  those  just  come  there  is  no  confusion  of  sight,  no 
trouble.  Before  our  eyes  are  unfolded  the  numberless 
secrets  inaccessible  during  our  day  of  trial.  We  recog¬ 
nize  that  the  outward  reality  is  scarcely  a  floating  shadow 
of  the  reality  within.  We  see  as  we  had  heard,  but  not 
as  we  had  understood.! 

Made  for  light  we  inhabit  light,  we  live  and  play  in 
the  light.  We  are  in  the  supernatural  and  glorious  ele-  * 
ment  of  the  bosom  of  God,  as  the  bee  in  the  sunshine 
and  in  its  flowers. 

0  Bosom  of  God  !  sacred  repository  where  we  find 

*  When  the  soul  will  begin  to  go  about  those  mansions  resplendent,  and  more 
curiously  examine  that  bosom  of  Abraham.  (St.  Bernard,  Consid.,  1.  5,  c.  4.)  ■ 

f  Ps.  47,  v.  9. 


i 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  129 

every  good!  0  God  in  Thyself!  0  God  whole  and 
entire  !  0  God  infinitely  beautiful  and  infinitely  good  ! 

0  God,  my  possessor  and  my  possession  !  0  Bosom  of 

God!  my  universe,  my  country,  my  dwelling-place,  so¬ 
journ  where  every  glory  crowns  me,  where  all  affections 
surround  me,  where  every  delights  penetrates  me  ! 

Often,  like  darts  of  fire,  have  these  questions  sprung 
forth  from  the  hearts  of  the  saints  of  earth: 

“Tell  us,  oh!  tell  us  what  you  see,  what  you  experi¬ 
ence,  how  God  appears  to  you,  how  He  communicates 
Himself  to  you? ” 

Ineffable  !  ineffable  is  the  great  mystery  of  glory  ! 
Courage  and  patience  !  What  are  a  few  days  in  com¬ 
parison  with  eternity  ? 

5 

.  v 


130 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


IV. 

THE  ABYSSES.  - 

Yes,  for  us  to-day,  everything  is  vision,  everything  is 
light.  The  night  has  disappeared  :  it  is  full  day. 

But  in  the  very  bosom  of  light  unfathomable  mysteries 
of  perfection  reveal  themselves  on  all  sides,  exciting  our 
intellect,  our  heart,  all  our  faculties,  and  holding  us  in  a 
perpetual  ravishment. 

Abysses  in  that  self-existence,  a  property  exclusively 
of  God,  that  most  His  own,  the  most  incommunicable  to 
creatures,  in  virtue  of  which  God  is  of  Himself,  and  of 
Himself  alone. 

Abysses  in  that  eternity,  duration  without  beginning 
and  without  end,  to  which  created  intelligence  knows  not 
how  to  attach  time,  and  which  the  blessed  spirit  itself 
cannot  consider  without  a  kind  of  fright. 

Abysses  in  that  immensity  from  which  no  point  of 
space  escapes,  and  which  has  nothing  in  common  with 
material  extension,  of  which  the  human  mind  makes  use 
to  conceive  it. 

Abysses  in  that  unalterable  immutability,  in  the  midst 
of  action,  and  in  that  continual  action,  or  pure  act,  which 
remains  perpetually  the  same,  whilst  it  terminates  in  ob¬ 
jects  the  most  diverse. 

Abysses  in  that  perfect  liberty  which  accompanies 
every  act,  and  presides  over  the  eternal  decrees  them¬ 
selves,  rendering  them  eternally  free. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


131 


Abysses  in  that  simplicity  of  essence  of  which  the  es¬ 
sence  of  the  purest  spirit  cannot  give  a  complete  image, 
and  which  in  time  many  various  relations  veiled  from  our 
eyes.  4 

Abysses  in  that  trinity  of  Persons,  true,  real,  which  we 
grasp  in  the  unity  of  essence,'  and  which  brings  with  it 
neither  parting  nor  division  of  any  kind. 

Abysses  in  the  mysteries  of  the  Word  begotten  of  the 
Father,  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost  proceeding  from  the 
Father  and  the  Son,  the  desperation  of  pride,  but  the 
charm  of  faith. 

Abysses  in  that  adorable  circuminsession,  existence  and 
cohabitation  of  each  of  the  Three  Persons  in  the  other 
two,  by  the  unity  and  simplicity  of  their  common  essence. 

Abysses  in  that  inexhaustible  goodness  of  the  Eternal 
which  has  made  Him  prodigal  of  His  perfection  and  of 
His  happiness,  and  made  Him  produce  externally  time 
and  creatures. 

Abysses  in  that  sovereign  justice  which  holds  no  less 
to  its  source  than  goodness  itself,  but  of  which  a  number 
of  free  and  intelligent  beings  would  fain  make  an  abstrac¬ 
tion. 

Abysses  in  that  amiability  and  beauty,  which  reveal¬ 
ing  themselves  to  us,  elevate  us  above  ourselves  and  give 
us  the  means  of  possessing  them  and  tasting  them. 

Yes,  everything  is  depth  and  abyss  in  the  bosom  of 
God.  Around  us  all  is  immensity,  the  unfathomable,  the 
infinite. 

Perpetually  drawn  to  irpmerse  ourselves  in  these  de¬ 
licious  abysses,  we  give  ourselves  up  to  this  sweet  attrac¬ 
tion,  and  experience  therefrom  a  ravishment  of  delight 


132  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

I  ''  ■  . 

which  unites  vivacity  with  calm,  newness  with  duration, 
desire  to  enjoyment.* 

*  Love  is  a  certain  impetus  immerging  (the  soul)  in  the  Divinity.  (Lessius, 
De  Summo  Bono,  1.  2,  c.  16.)  » 


t 


\ 


o 


I 


‘L 


I 


/ 


V 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  133 


V. 

THE  UNKNOWN. 

However  great  and  immense  it  be,  in  the  state  of 
glory,  our  knowledge  is  not  infinite.  Like  every  thing 
which  is  not  a  Divine  attribute,  it  has  its  limits.* 

We  are  essentially  ignorant  of  what  the  Divine  Nature 
is  in  Itself.  We  do  not  understand  this  mystery  of  mys¬ 
teries,  and  we  shall  never  comprehend  it.  No  finite  be¬ 
ing,  even  the  most  elevated  in  glory,  will  ever  fathom  its 
depths.f 

If  a  finite  nature  reached  by  his  gaze  the  fulness  of 
the  Divine  Nature,  it  must  needs  be  said  that  this  nature 
had  ceased  to  be  finite,  or  that  this  being  had  itself  be¬ 
come  infinite. 

Apart  from  the  Divine  Nature  and  perfections,  all  is 
not  known  to  us.  In  the  immeasurable  domain  of  the 
light  that  has  its  limit,  God  has  reserved  some  things. 
There  are  three  kinds  of  reality  which  we  cannot  know 
without  a  special  revelation. 

We  do  not  know  future  events  which  are  not  an 
nounced  by  some  present  cause. :f 

In  heaven  we  do  not  know  what  will  be  the  number  of  ^ 
the  elect,  nor  do  we  know  wThen  the  day  of  judgment  will 

be-|| _ 

*  The  angels  see  God  in  essence,  and  still  do  not  know  all,  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q. 
12,  art.  8.) 

f  No  created  intellect  can  totally  comprehend  God.  (St.  Thomas,  Ibid.) 

J  They  also  do  not  know  future  contingencies.  (Ibid.) 

|  St.  Matthew,  c.  24,  v.  36. 


134 


'  ■  V 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

The  certain  knowledge  of  the  future  is  a  privilege  of 
the  Divinity.* 

We  do  not  know  the  secrets  of  hearts,  whether  of 
angels  or  of  men. 

As  long  as  those  secrets  are  not  manifested  outwardly 
by  any  sign,  and  the  man  or  the  angel  does  not  wish  to 
make  them  known,  it  is  impossible  to  penetrate  them.f 

We  do  not  know  the  mysteries  of  the  supernatural 
world  of  grace,  which  has  not  been  revealed  to  us. 

Before  God  revealed  to  us  the  Incarnation,  the  Redemp¬ 
tion,  the  Eucharist,  we  knew  the  absolute  possibility  of 
them,  being  well  aware  that  no  obstacle  could  arrest  the 
action  of  the  Almighty  ;  but  we  should  not  have  been 
able  to  assert  their  future  realization. J 

Apart  from  revelation  we  do  not  know  then  the  con¬ 
tingent  future,  which  depends  on  free  wills  ;  the  secrets 
of  hearts,  which  no  act  betrays  ;  finally  the  mysteries  of 
grace,  before  their  accomplishment. 

This  blessed  ignorance  is  far  from  harming  us.  We 
acquiesce  in  it  with  delightful  love.  We  take  pleasure  in 
this  adorable  darkness.  It  gives  us  the  highest  and  most 
sublime  idea  of  the  light  reserved  to  Divine  Intelligence. 
It  is  for  us  most  beautiful  light  !|| 

*God  only  knows  tilings  previously  ;  for  angels  cannot  know  the  future.  (St. 
Athanasius,  to  Antiochus,  c.  27.) 

f  The  knowledge  of  hearts  belongs  only  to  God  who  made  them.  (St.  John 
Chrysostom,  on  St.  John ,  1.  2,  c.  19.)  They  also  do  not  know  the  thoughts  of  the 
heart,  which  is  of  God  alone.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  12,  art.  8.) 

J  The  angels  do  not  know  the  mysteries  of  grace.  If  one  angel  cannot  know 
the  thoughts  of  another,  as  they  depend  on  the  will  of  the  angel,  much  less  can 
they  know  what  depends  on  the  will  of  God  alone.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  57,  art.  5.) 

I  The  fact  itself,  that  they  see  their  good  is  so  great-  they  cannot  equal  it  by 
their  love  and  contemplation,  does  not  afflict  them,  but  fills  them  with  wonder¬ 
ful  joy.  (Lessius,  De  Summo  Bono,  1.  2,  c.  12.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


135 


0  sacred  darkness,  reserve  of  our  God,  we  adore  thee 
as  our  God  Himself!  Thou  art  still  for  us  God,  God  as 
great,  greater,  infinitely  greater  than  we  are  able  to  see 
Him  in  the  splendor  that  inundates  us. 

What  we  grasp  of  His  infinite  greatness,  we  seem  to 
lower  to  reduce  to  our  measure;  but  what  escapes  us, 
what  remains  beyond  the  limit  of  our  faculties,  trans¬ 
formed  by  glory — 0,  in  that  truly  behold  what  constitutes 
Him!  Behold  truly  our  God! 

Sacred  darkness,  in  thee  we  see  the  most  august  of 
Tabernacles,  the  only  one  forever  invisible,  that  in 
which  reposes  hidden  fo-r  all  eternity  the  great  secret, 
the  great  mystery,  the  Infinite  ! 


I 


136  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


VL 

TRANSFORMATION. 

I  have  spoken  of  the  transformation  our  intelligence 
had  to  undergo  to  be  able  to  seize  the  divine  essence,  and 
enjoy  clear  vision. 

On  attaining  to  the  bosom  of  God,  our  other  faculties 
underwent  an  analogous  transformation.* 

Just  as  our  faculties,  with  all  their  natural  power, 
could  not  have  done,  without  the  aid  of  grace,  one  super¬ 
natural  and  meritorious  act:  in  like  manner,  without  still 
higher  assistance,  they  would  not  be  able  to  do  a  single 
act,  or  experience  even  one  impression  of  the  state  of 
perfect  happiness  and  glory. 

To  become  fit  for  this  third  life,  the  most  elevated  of 
all,  a  simple  increase  of  the  perfection  they  already  had 
would  not  have  been  enough  ;  a  perfection  of  higher 
order  was  needed. 

With  a  subtlety  like  to  that  of  God,  our  spirituality 
gives  itself  to  its  new  operations  and  favors  them. 

Our  memory  of  greater  strength  has  no  succession  nor 
division  in  its  object.  Everything  is  present  at  onco; 
everything  is  seen  with  equal  light. 

The  attentive  consideration  of  one  truth  or  event  does 
not  interfere  with  the  clear  and  simultaneous  view  of  all 
the  rest.f 


*  Jn  the  state  of  beatitude  the  will  is  not  to  be  less  elevated  than  the  intellect 
but  in  like  manner  equally  eminently  and  admirably.  (Lessius,  Ibid.) 
t  Our  thoughts  will  not  be  voluble,  going  and  coming  from  one  object  to 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


137 


Our  hearing,  more  penetrating,  discovers  a  superior 
world  of  sound  and  harmony,  without  analogy  to  the  con¬ 
certed  music  of  earth  and  of  time. 

Our  sensibility,  more  delicate,  gives  access  to  a  num¬ 
ber  of  unspeakable  delectations,  incompatible  with  human 
life  and  with  that  of  trial,  which  the  most  wonderful  ex- 
periences  of  the  world  below  will  never  give  rise  to. 

Our  activity,  more  vigorous,  extends  the  field  of  its 
action,  and  multiplies  the  most  perfect  acts  of  grace. 

Our  heart,  enlarged,  has  become  the  centre  of  a  fire 
in  comparison  with  which  all  ardor  of  the  past  is  but  cold 
and  ice. 

Our  language,  more  elevated  and  noble,  expresses 
more  faithfully  the  divine  realities,  and  facilitates  among 
us  the  exchange  of  divine  treasures. 

Thanks  to  the  new  help  they  have  received  in  the 
new  transformations  they  have  undergone,  glory  is  not  a 
strange  medium  for  our  faculties.  They  act  in  it,  and 
move  as  if  they  had  been  created  at  that  level  and  in 
such  a  sphere.* * 

Each  one  has  become  fit  to  grasp  in  its  way  the  divine 
essence,  and  taste  divine  beatitude.  They  are  so  many 
divers  means  of  attaining  to  and  enjoying  the  divinity. 

Their  exercise  in  glory  constitutes  one  beatific  life. 
It  is  the  breath  and  respiration  of  it.  God  is  its  element. 

The  faculties  of  man  will  one  day  be  transformed  in 
like  manner;  they  will  grow  like  ours,  in  a  new  order  of 
perfection. 

another,  but  we  shall  see  all  our  knowledge  at  once  with  a  single  glance.  (St. 
Aug.,  On  the  Tiinily ,  c.  16.) 

*  Thus  movements  by  which  God  impels  creatures  become  con-natural  and 
easy.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  ii,  q.  110,  art.  2.) 


138 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


His  senses  too  will  have  their  renovation.  They  shall 
be  purified,  and  will  subsist.  Human  nature  will  pre¬ 
serve  its  integrity  just  as  the  angelic  nature.  Clothed 
with  the  power  of  glory,  it  will,  like  ours,  do  what  be¬ 
longs  to  glory. 

The  transformation  of  the  senses  will  permit  them  to 
grasp  and  taste  in  a  way  we  shall  not  the  glory  of  the 
adorable  humanity  of  the  Redeemer.* 

Each  will  be  a  source  of  special  enjoyment  to  the 
soul.  It  will  contribute  to  happiness  in  proportion  to 
the  merit  of  which  it  was  the  organ  and  instrument. 
Penance,  pain,  sacrifice,  death,  will  have  a  corporal  rec¬ 
ompense.! 

God  pursues  His  work  as  He  began  it,  and  leads  it 
from  perfection  to  perfection,  to  its  crowning  point. 

As  there  has  been  nothing  made  but  what  is  good 
in  the  two  orders  of  intelligent  creatures,  He  lets  subsist 
Plis  first  work,  and  contents  Himself  with  embellishing  it 
with  new  beauties. f 

*  The  eye  will  delight  in  the  amiable  aspect  of  the  Redeemer,  when  it  will  see 
the  King  in  His  splendor  adorned  with  His  glory  and  crowned  with  His  diadem. 
(St.  Laurence  Justinian,  On  Discipline ,  1.  3.)  The  light  illumining  and  recreat¬ 
ing  the  corporeal  eyes  of  the  blessed  is  the  most  resplendent  and  glorious 
humanity  of  Christ.  (Cornelius  a  Lap.,  On  the  Apoc.,  c.  21,  v.  23.) 

f  The  body  will  be  rewarded  on  account  of  its  merit.  Therefore  all  the  senses 
will  be  rewarded.  (St.  Thomas,  Suppl,  q.  84,  art.  4.)  From  the  beatitude  itself 
of  the  soul  there  will  be  a  certain  reflux  to  the  body  and  senses,  to  their  perfec¬ 
tion  in  what  they  do.  (St.  Thomias,  i,  ii,  q.  3,  art.  8.) 

J  In  the  angels  there  remain  natural  knowledge  and  love.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q. 
62,  art.  7.) 


/ 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


139 


VII. 

THE  VIRTUES. 

Our  virtues,  like  our  faculties,  have  undergone  trans¬ 
formation.  They  are  no  longer  merely  tendencies  and 
inclinations  fertile  in  meritorious  acts  ;  they  are  compla¬ 
cency  and  transport  at  the  goal  they  have  reached. 

Charity,  which  was,  in  the  day  of  trial,  a  lively,  ardent 
aspiration  of  hearts  to  union,  is  to-day  the  ecstasy  of 
perfect  union  with  a  perfect  object.  , 

Humility  is  no  longer  a  continual  descent  into  our 
nothingness;  it  is  joy  to  see  ourselves  at  the  very  depth 
of  this  nothingness,  by  the  light  given  us  by  the  full 
knowledge  of  God  and  of  ourselves. 

Sweetness  is  in  us  the  always  open  flower  of  esteem 
and  benevolence.  It  fills  our  relations  with  charm;  it 
draws  to  us  all  hearts. 

Simplicity  is  in  our  words  as  in  our  acts.  Truth! 
Truth!  Truth!  We  love  it  in  everything;  we  take  pleas¬ 
ure  only  in  it;  outside  of  it  everything  is  hateful. 

Purity  is  in  our  affections,  as  simplicity  in  our  intentions. 
These  are  the  two  wings  which  bear  us  to  the  heart  of 
God,  and  enable  us  to  draw  thence,  without  measure,  light 
and  love. 

Goodness  renders  us  diffusive  of  ourselves.  It  spreads 
over  the  beings  that  surround  us  the  good  and  the  hap¬ 
piness  which  is  in  our  hearts,  and  renders  them  sharers 
of  our  perfections. 


140  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

As  God,  we  possess  unalterable  justice,  with  which 
nothing  defiled  could  find  favor,  if  not  accompanied  with 
regret. 

But,  like  God  also,  we  possess  the  unalterable  patience 
eternity  gives  us.  What  is  infallibly  to  come  about  is 
already  present  to  us. 

Perfect  innocence  has  become  for  us  the  privilege  that 
most  touches  our  heart  ;  we  appear  before  the  Heavenly 
Father  as  children  who  have  never  disobeyed,  and  we 
gaze  upon  His  always  smiling  face  with  a  look  of  tender 
confidence. 

Obedience  is  the  will  of  God  in  us  and  by  us.  It  ele¬ 
vates  us,  honors  us,  deifies  us.  There  is  no  angel  who 
does  not  fiulfill  to  the  utmost  each  commandment,  none 
not  ready  to  exhaust,  in  the  warmth  of  his  heart,  the 
treasures  of  the  divine  will.* 

Our  virtues  are  a  constant  sharing  of  the  divine  com¬ 
placency.  They  are  God  living  and  acting  in  our  thoughts, 
our  affections,  and  our  acts. 

What  other  inclinations  or  habits  could  be  formed  in 
those  whom  God  inundates  with  His  happiness,  and  fills 
with  Himself. 

Far  from  having  in  them  anything  hard,  the  virtues, 
transformed  by  glory,  are  full  of  delight.  Each  one  is 
a  variety  in  enjoyment  and  a  special  fnanner  of  compla¬ 
cency  in  God.  If  its  name  still  recalls  struggle  and  ef¬ 
fort,  it  is  struggle  and  effort  triumphant,  recompensed, 
crowned. 

*  We  can  imagine  some  angel  exhausting  the  divine  commands.  (Olympi- 
dorus,  on  Job ,  c.  1.) 


I 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH 


141 


VIII. 

BEAUTY. 

God  possesses  beauty  in  an  eminent  manner.  He  is 
the  source  of  it.  He  communicates  it  in  different  de¬ 
grees  to  creatures,  and  gives  to  each  its  charm  and  grace.* 

The  best  part  has  fallen  to  the  pure  spirits.  Nothing 
in  the  world  below  could  give  an  idea  of  the  beauty  of  a 
spiritual  substance,  adorned  with  sublime  faculties,  and 
crowned  with  glory. f 

The  universe  with  its  order  and  splendor,  the  flower 
with  its  freshness  and  brilliancy,  the  bird  with  its  elegant 
form  and  varied  plumage,  the  body  of  man  with  its  dig¬ 
nity  and  its  wonderful  structure,  all  material  beauty 
united,  could  not  be  compared  with  the  least  of  the 

angels.J 

In  like  manner,  among  the  divine  gifts  there  is  none 
more  difficult  for  us  to  render  sensible  to  man  than 

How  paint  a  beauty  purely  spiritual,  when  canvas,  pen¬ 
cil  colors,  all  is  material  ?  Man  seizes  this  beauty  only 

*  The  divine  beauty  infinitely  surpasses  all  angelic  beauty.  It  is  the  source 
of  all  beauty  which  is  found  in  created  things  ;  and  all  the  beauty  of  created  ob¬ 
jects  is  but  a  thin  shadow,  and,  as  it  were,  a  rude  delineation  of  that  which  is 
divine.  (Lessius,  De  Summo  Bono,  1.  2,  c.  16.) 

f  The  angels  are  endowed  with  wonderful  beauty.  (Vivien,  Angelus.) 

t  Do  these  affect  you?  They  do  certainly.  Why?  Because  they  are  beauti¬ 
ful.  What  is  He  who  made  them?  I  think  you  would  grow  young  again  if 
you  were  to  see  the  beauty  of  an  angel.  What  therefore  is  the  Creator  of  the 
angels?  (St.  Aug.,  Sermon  19.) 


142 


i 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


through  images  which  denaturalize  in  transmitting  it. 
The  rays  of  the  beautiful  reach  him 'scattered,  weakened, 
tarnished,  and  broken. 

Thanks  to  the  elevation  of  their  thought,  some  men  of 
genius  have  explained  this  phenomenon.  They  have  un¬ 
derstood  that  the  physical  beauty  of  a  body  is  only  its 
aptitude  to  reflect  an  incorporeal  ideal,  and  that  true 
beauty  is  seized  only  by  the  mind.* 

Architecture,  sculpture,  painting,  music,  poetry,  elo¬ 
quence,  all  the  arts,  are  evocations  of  ideal  beauty,  the 
only  true  beauty. . 

Artists  know  this.  In  the  presence  of  the  beautiful 
and  sublime,  what  torment  they  feel  !  They  see  through 
it  the  ideal;  they  would  wish  to  see  it  better,  retain  it, 
fix  it  in  their  mind.  While  the  crowd  admires  the  mas¬ 
terpiece,  the  author  alone,  sad,  in  despair  at  the  sight 
of  what  is  wanting  to  him,  is  on  the  point  of  tearing  it  to 
pieces  or  of  throwing  it  into  the  fire. 

It  is  the  soul  gives  beauty  to  the  body.  Let  it  once 
cease  to  shine  there,  and  all  charm  will  have  fled  with 
it.  The  regularity  of  feature,  purity  of  lines,  harmony 
of  proportion  will  remain,  but  this  plastic  beauty  is  only 
the  mirror  in  which  veritable  beauty  was  to  be  reflected 
with  life. 

Material  form  has  beauty  only  through  the  idea  it 
awakens.  It  is  the  sign  of  it  and  the  announcement.! 

*  Plato,  Cicero,  St.  Augustin.  Evidently  the  beauty  ot  the  form  derives  from 
the  beauty  of  the  type;  it  borrows  of  it  all  it  has  of  reality;  and,  although 
the  form  distinct  from  the  type  does  not  depend  on  it  in  its  material  existence, 
separated  from  the  idea  which  gave  it  life,  it  resembles  a  body  from  which  life 
has  departed.  (Lamenais,  Of  Art  and  of  the  Beautiful.) 

f  The  superficial  beauty  of  the  body  shines  when  the  soul  is  resplendent,  bring¬ 
ing  hope  of  what  is  still  better.  (Maximus  of  Tyre,  Serin.  10.) 


I 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  143 

If  the  idea  is  not  produced,  the  sign  is  convicted  of  false¬ 
hood — there  is  no  veritable  beauty. 

When  man  finds,  under  the  features  thatcharmed  him, 
all  of  a  sudden,  egotism  and  baseness,  will  he  continue  to 
find  that  physiognomy  as  beautiful  ? 

The  spiritual  nature  of  the  devils  is  a  magnificent  pic¬ 
ture  of  beauty  ;  but  when,  back  of  it,  is  seen  malice, 
hatred,  the  constant  desire  to  hurt,  every  moral  perversity, 
how  it  repels  ! — what  horrors  ! 

The  reason  is  that  deformity  being  the  absence  of 
beauty  due,  the  more  perfect  the  beauty  due,  the  more 
its  absence  is  felt,  and  the  greater  the  ugliness.* 

In  representing  the  angel,  Christian  piety  has  often 
been  well  inspired. 

The  religious  artist  has  put  aside  all  form  in  which 
matter  and  sense  dominate  ;  he  would  not  have  a  body 
without  transparency  and  casting  a  shadow. 

He  has  taken  from  matter  and  of  the  body  what  was 
necessary  to  render  it  possible  to  grasp  with  the  mind  a 
type  which  is  all  light,  and  which  never  appears  except 
luminous. 

In  this  way  he  has  been  able  to  evoke  the  ideal,  and 
reproduce  some  traits  of  angelic  beauty. 

With  golden  hair,  a  pure  brow,  a  sweet  look,  its 
hands  extended,  its  feet  bare,  its  girdle  of  gold,  this 
beautiful  angel,  represented  in  flight,  causes  an  image 
still  more  beautiful  to  arise  in  the  mind. 

More  delicate  and  subtle  than  the  eye  of  the  body,  the 
eye  of  the  soul  goes  to  the  reality  reflected  in  these  ex¬ 
terior  symbols,  and  seizes  there  sublime  intelligence,  per- 


*  Privation  of  beauty  due.  (St.  Thomas.) 


144 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


)  " 

feet  purity,  ardent  love,  complete  detachment,  prompt 
obedience,  touching  goodness.  He  sees  harmonized  in 
this  wonderful  visage,  the  innocent  candor  of  childhood, 
the  virginal  vivacity  of  youth,  the  masculine  gravity  of 
mature  age,  the  venerable  majesty  of  old  age — in  a  word 
all  the  beauty,  successive  and  diverse,  of  the  four  seasons 
of  human  life. 

It  is  thus  that  piety  and  genius,  united  in  the  artist  of 
pedilection,*  who  saluted  us  on  bended  knee  before  paint¬ 
ing  us,  divine  the  character,  permanent  and  as  it  were 
eternal,  of  our  beauty. 

Our  beauty,  in  effect,  has  nothing  of  a  fleeting  nature 
in  it  ;  it  is  constant  and  fixed  ;  it  never  tarnishes  like  the 
passing  brilliancy  of  a  flower  ;  it  knows  no  alteration  nor 
decline  ;  it  is  immortal  as  the  divine  rays  that  produce  it. 
The  rays  of  our  beauty  have  sprung  from  the  face  of 
God,  and  adhere  to  it  as  the  rays  of  the  sun  to  their 
centre.f 

The  unveiled  view  of  a  soul  in  grace  would  ravish  man 
with  admiration.^  What  impression  would  be  produced 
in  him  by  the  sight  of  an  angel  in  glory  ?  Could  he 
bear  it?  No;  he  would  die  of  joy.|| 

But  if  God  would  deign  to  strengthen  his  vision  or 
soften  the  too  vivid  brilliancy  of  such  beauty,  what  would 
be  his  transports  !  Wherever  this  angel  might  appear  to 
him,  would  not  man  exclaim,  as  in  an  ecstasy: 

“  Oh  !  how  good  it  is  to  be  here  !  Beautiful  angel, 
leave  us  not  !  ” 

*  Angelico  da  Fiesole. 

t  The  angel  is  a  mirror  receiving,  if  it  be  lawful  to  say  so,  all  the  beauty  of 
God.  (St.  Denys,  De  Divinis  Nominibus. 

I  Life  of  St.  Theresa. 

I  Didst  thou  see  the  beauty  of  the  holy  angels  as  it  is,  thy  heart  would  burst 
for  exceeding  great  joy.  (Revelations  of  St.  Brigit.,  Bollandists.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH 


145 


IX. 

THE  LIGHTS. 

The  glory  with  which  we  are  penetrated  inwardly  and 
clothed  outwardly,  unites  a  vivacity  and  sweetness  that 
cannot  be  expressed.  It  is  uncreated  light  itself,  com¬ 
municating  itself  to  us  and  crowning  us.* 

God  shines  forth  in  each  one  of  us  as  a  torch  in  pure 
crystal.  It  beautifies  it,  absorbs  it,  makes  it  disappear, 
and  itself  alone  appears. 

Eyes  not  made  strong  by  transformation  could  not  bear 
the  brightness  of  this  glory  ;  they  would  be  dazzled. 

Daniel  overcame  the  rage  of  lions,  slew  the  monstrous 
dragon,  repressed  the  fury  of  a  proud  monarch.  But 
when  Daniel  found  himself  face  to  face  with  an  angel,  he 
felt  his  strength  fail,  he  fell  prone  on  the  ground,  and 
could  scarcely  rise,  when  the  angel  gave  him  his  hand.f 

A  man  still  higher  than  Daniel  in  the  divine  intimacy 
of  God,  an  apostle,  an  evangelist,  John  the  well-beloved, 
sees  an  angel  appear  ;  he  could  not  imagine  such 
brilliancy  except  in  the  Divine  Word,  and  falls  prostrate  to 
adore  him.  The  angel  has  to  stop  him  with  the  words: 
“I  am  not  The  One  who  is  adored;  I  am  like  thee,  His 
servant.”^ 

*  The  light  of  glory  is  a  certain  participation  of  uncreated  and  superessential 
light.  (Lessius,  De  Summo  Bono,  1.  2,  c.  8.) 

f  Daniel,  c.  10,  v.  9,  10. 

I  Apoc.,  c.  19,  v.  10. 

5* 


146 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


And  yet  neither  John  nor  Daniel  had  seen  the  glory 
of  an  angel  fully  unveiled. 

If  the  least  perfect  of  the  angels  were  to  show  himself 
in  the  brightness  of  his  glory,  on  the  heights  of  the  firm¬ 
ament,  the  stars  would  be  eclipsed,  and  would  disappear 
in  his  light.* 

Often  we  have  made  a  reflection  of  our  rays  reach 
man,  projecting  them  through  matter  as  a  transparent 
medium.f 

They  have  shone  in  the  midst  of  the  night,  bringing 
fervor  to  the  place  of  prayer,  patience  to  prisons,  joy  to 
solitude,  safety  on  the  brink  of  an  abyss,  hope  at  the 
cradle,  solace  at  the  tomb*! 

Sometimes  a  whole  region  has  seen  itself  enveloped  in 
our  light,  appearing  as  if  crowned  with  a  heavenly  halo. || 

The  just  soul,  favored  with  our  splendor,  at  once  felt 
itself  full  of  calm,  and  admirable  confidence  ;  it  has  found 
in  this  the  recompense  of  a  difficulty  overcome,  and  en¬ 
couragement  to  overcome  difficulties. § 

But  when  a  wicked  soul  has  perceived  some  one  of 
these  darts  of  light,  it  has  felt  a  strange  thrill  go  through 
it,  and  has  at  once  yielded  to  grace  or  fled  in  affright. 

The  angel  of  darkness  too,  transforming  himself  into  an 

*  The  beauty  of  the  just  is  compared  to  the  beauty  of  the  sun,  which  will  be 
seven  times  more  splendid  than  now.  (St.  Anselm,  De  Similitud,  c.  50.) 

f  Angels  appear  to  you  in  the  shape  of  men,  because  your  hampered  spirit 
could  not  otherwise  understand.  ( Book  of  Rev.  of  St.  Brigit.) 

Î  The  appearance  of  angels  is  wont  to  be  most  pleasant  to  those  that  love 
them.  (Procopius  of  Gaza,  On  Numbers.) 

||  I  saw  in  spirit  the  whole  island  radiant  with  angels’  brightness,  and  all  the 
air  to  the  zenith  full  of  their  brilliancy.  (Liie  of  St.  Columbanus,  by  Adamnan.) 

I  They  affect  the  worthy  with  unwonted  consolation,  and  bless  them  with 
quiet  of  mind  and  spiritual  joy.  (Corderus,  On  Job,  c.  4,  v.  11.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  147 

angel  of  light,*  casts  sometimes  his  glare  ;  but  these 
rays,  not  of  earth,  are  much  less  of  heaven. 

They  cause  in  souls  troubles,  agitation,  anxiety,  and 
at  the  same  time  inspire  pride,  hypocrisy,  hatred. f  It  is 
by  this  sign  and  by  these  effects,  that  the  prince  of  dark¬ 
ness  betrays  himself. 

We  have  another  means  of  rendering  our  light  percep¬ 
tible  to  man,  that  has  nothing  material  about  it.  We 

cause  it  to  shine  in  his  interior,  without  the  intermediary 

* 

of  the  body. 

The  soul  then  discovers  a  new  world  of  beautiful  real¬ 
ity  which  it  is  powerless  to  describe  but  which  makes  on 
it  a  deep  impression,  and  gives  knowledge  superior  to  all 
natural  cognition. 

When  physical  light  appears  in  the  morning,  it  causes 
all  objects  of  the  universe  to  come  out  from  the  uniform¬ 
ity  of  night,  and  clothes  them  with  the  thousand  varieties 
that  distinguish  them. 

In  like  manner,  when  a  ray  from  the  face  of  an  angel 
falls  upon  the  soul,  every  object  in  it  is  lit  up,  and  ap¬ 
pears  in  its  value  or  worthlessness. 

One  dart  of  our  beatific  glory  ever  produces  truth  in 
the  mind,  joy  in  the  heart,  strength  in  the  will. 


*  St.  Paul,  2,  Cor.,  c.  11,  v.  14. 

t  They  involve  in  greater  darkness  and  disturb  the  more,  which  is  an  evident 
sign  of  their  malignity.  (Corderus,  on  'Job,  c.  4.  v.  14.) 


148 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


X. 

PERFUMES. 

When  spring  has  anew  given  youth  to  the  earth,  be¬ 
stowed  new  life  upon  it,  and  clothed  it  with  new  beauty, 
choose,  0  my  brother,  a  day  beautiful  and  serene  ;  go 
into  the  midst  of  a  vast  field,  or  of  some  rich  garden. 

There,  in  an  atmosphere  warm  and  calm,  where  the 
aromatic  plant  gives  out  its  balm,  where  the  flower  ex¬ 
hales  its  perfume,  where  every  branch  contributes  its 
treasures — what  a  sweet  mingling! 

’Tis  but  a  feeble  lingering  of  the  ineffable  odors  which 
rejoiced  and  strengthened,  in  the  first  days  of  the  world, 
the  Well-Beloved  of  God! 

In  the  paradise  of  delights,  the  flower,  the  plant,  the 
dew  of  the  lawn  produced,  for  the  innocent  pleasure  of 
man,  perfumes  which  the  breath  of  the  winds  brought 
him  from  every  side. 

In  each  of  these  movements  of  the  air,  man  drank  in 
pleasure  with  life. 

But  there  is  a  perfume  more  excellent  than  those  of 
the  first  days.  ’Tis  that  exhaled  by  the  spiritual  flowers 
transplanted  to  the  bosom  of  God,  living  of  the  divine 
sap,  and  blooming  in  the  divine  atmosphere  of  glory. 

Yes,  the  angels  are  divine  flowers,  exhaling  a  divine 
perfume. 

If  the  men  who  know  best  the  flowers  and  plants  of 
the  earth  breathed  this  perfume,  they  would  not  know 


ME  MO  IB  S  OF  A  SERAPH. 


149 


to  what  to  compare  it,  nor  could  they  define  it  ;  no  ex¬ 
pression  would  translate  their  interior  delight  ;  they 
would  give  themselves  up  to  words  of  admiration. 

This  perfume  is  reserved  to  the  enjoyment  of  pure 
spirits  and  of  souls.  Often,  nevertheless,  the  senses, 
purified  by  long  course  of  penance,  sanctified  by  a  com¬ 
plete  submission  to  the  law,  have  received  some  emana¬ 
tion  of  it. 

We  shook  our  wings,  and  the  deserts,  the  hiding 
places,  the  cells  of  piety,  have  been  filled  with  it. 

Holy  souls  have  grown  in  the  neighborhood  of  heaven, 
and  have  been  inundated  with  its  delights.  Many  are 
they  who  were  able  to  have  this  sweet  experience,  in  that 
valley  dear  to  Mary,  where  for  so  long  a  time  we  "made 
our  sojourn.* 

Souls  not  yet  purified  by  grace  have  felt  an  attraction 
hitherto  unknown,  and  found  themselves  transformed. 
The  angel  of  Cecilia  spread  around  her  chaste  couch  the 
odor  of  heavenly  roses,  and  Valerian  was  gained  to 
Christ.f 

When  one  is  on  sea  afar,  and  no  land  appears,  how 
agreeable  and  sweet,  how  encouraging  and  strengthening, 
are  the  balmy  breezes  that  come  to  him  from  his  native 
land  ! 

We  love  to  leap  from  the  happy  shores  of  heaven,  to 
fly  to  meet  travelers  in  straits,  to  bring  them  the  per¬ 
fumes  from  the  lands  they  are  seeking. 

We  spread  around  man  those  wholesome  perfumes  that 
will  preserve  him  from  the  poisons  scattered  in  the  air  by 
the  hand  of  Satan.  J 

*  The  wonders  of  Laus,  Diocess  of  Gap,  by  the  Abbe  Pron. 

t  Life  of  St.  Cecelia,  Bollandists. 

Î  They  are  the  vines  and  the  vineyards  which  impart  their  odor  to  every  soul. 
(Origen,  Horn.  4.) 


150 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


é 


Without  the  perfumes  of  the  angels,  what  soul  would 
resist  the  subtle  infection  with  which  the  impure  spirit 
taints  the  heart?  What  germ  of  virtue  would  not  perish 
before  budding.* 

What,  in  fact,  in  the  material  world  those  hurtful  ex¬ 
halations  are  from  which  the  senses  shrink,  and  which 
bring  death  to  man,  the  odors  of  vice  and  the  breath  of 
Satan  are  in  the  spiritual  world. f 

If  in  his  state  of  glory,  the  angel  was  sensible  to  it,  it 
would  be  impossible  to  remain  near  a  soul  steeped  in 
crime  and  guard  it.f 

By  an  angelic  privilege,  the  friends  of  God  have  been 
able  to  recognize  the  condition  of  souls  by  their  odor  of 
heaven  or  by  the  impure  infection  they  give  forth. || 

Souls  once  plunged  into  glory  will  spread  around  like 
us  sweet  perfumes.  They  will  bring  with  them  that  bea¬ 
tific  atmosphere  which  tells  of  heaven,  as  they  brought 
before  the  blessed  atmosphere  of  holiness,  telling  of  God 
dwelling  in  them  by  grace. 

Yes,  on  earth  even,  holy  souls  are  like  flowers  or  aro¬ 
matic  plants,  spreading  everywhere  the  good  odor  of 
virtue. 

’Tis  especially  when  they  are  ground  by  suffering,  as 
that  of  Christ  or  that  of  Paul,  like  the  souls  of  the  apos¬ 
tles,  of  the  martyrs,  of  all  the  saints,  that  their  perfumes 

*  By  the  sweetness  of  heavenly  odor  they  dispel  the  fetor  of  mortality  and 
corruption  from  them.  (Origen,  Horn.  4.) 

f  In  the  sight  of  the  angels  nothing  is  foul  ;  nothing  gives  an  obscene  odor  but 
vice  and  sin.  (St.  Peter  Damian,  Opus,  c.  23.) 

J  This  fetor  and  disgusting  nausea  of  corruption  very  unwillingly  and  with 
annoyance  the  angel  bears,  although  he  does  not  omit  obedience,  obliged  by  the 
law  of  heavenly  command.  (Ibid.) 

||  St.  Philip  Neri,  St.  Catharine  of  Siena,  St.  Gentilis,  St.  Euthymius,  St.  Eu- 
gendus. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  151 

affect  more  powerfully  other  souls,  and  heal  their  lan- 
gour.* 

When  it  shall  have  been  renovated  by  glory,  the  body 
too  will  have  its  perfumes.  It  often  receives  the  first 
fruits  in  the  state  of  humiliation.  How  often  has  it  not 
happened  that  a  body,  just  abandoned  by  the  soul,  has 
exhaled  a  sweetness  of  odor  that  accompanies  incorrup¬ 
tion!  The  relics  of  the  saints  have  frequently  .been  so 
honored.! 

The  perfumes  that  bathe  the  plains  of  heaven  will  be 
the  inheritance  of  virtue  embellished  by  glory. 

On  the  banks  of  the  river  of  delights,  you  will  be  like 
us,  pure  souls,  our  sisters,  flowers  always  fresh  and  full 
of  life,  enriched  with  perfumes  divine,  and  giving  them 
forth  on  every  side  around  them. 

*  As  spices  give  out  a  sweeter  odor  tlie  more  they  are  bruised,  so  Christ,  the 
apostles,  martyrs,  and  all  the  saints,  spread  around  a  sweeter  perfume  of  virtue 
the  more  they  were  overcome  and  crushed  by  persecution  and  tribulation. 
(Corn,  a  Lapide.) 

f  The  delightful  fragrance  of  heavenly  perfumes  wonderfully  liquefying  will 
inundate  the  sense  of  smell.  (St.  Laurence  Justinan;  De  Discipl.,  1.  23.) 


\ 


152 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

XL 

HARMONY. 

An  angel  in  the  bosom  of  God,  is  a  harmonious  lyre  ; 
his  faculties  are  the  sonorous  chords  of  the  instrument  ; 
divine  charity  is  the  breath  that  sweeps  the  chords  and 
makes  the  lyre  resound. 

These  living  lyres  of  heaven  recount  together  the 
glory  of  God,  His  attributes,  His  works.  The  divine 
perfections  have  no  higher  expression  than  our  harmony.* 

In  heaven,  harmony  is  our  manner  of  praising  God, 
and  that  of  enjoying  Him.  God  the  great,  the  unique 
Artist,  makes  us  Himself  harmonious.  Every  vibration 
He  produces  in  us  is  a  beatific  thrill, f  and  every  note 
expressing  love  of  Him  flies  from  our  heart  to  His  heart. 
The  union  of  the  elect  and  of  the  angels,  in  the  bosom  of 
God,  is  the  bosom  of  God  become  harmonious. 

The  material  movements  of  earth  never  reach  the  ange¬ 
lic  lyre  and  never  make  it  resound  ;  but  it  happens  that 
the  sounds  of  the  lyre  find  an  echo  in  the  organs  of  the 
body  of  man  and  in  the  powers  of  his  soul. 

We  sang  above  the  cradle  of  the  infant  God  ;  we  sing 
by  the  side  of  holy  souls,  when  God  sends  us  to  console 
them  m  their  afflictions,  fortify  them  in  their  weakness, 
and  sustain  them  in  their  agony. J 

*  Like  the  chords  of  a  harp  well  tuned,  they  resound  through  the  church  and 
the  hosts  of  heaven.  (St.  Andrew  of  Cæsaraea,  On  the  Apocalypse.) 

f  Touch  those  most  pure  chords  ;  in  heaven  they  give  no  sad  sound.  (St.  An¬ 
selm,  Med.  13.) 

X  Lives  of  Saints  Kigobert,  Veronica  of  Binasco,  Justina,  Fursey,  Prise»,  Gen- 
ulphus,  Theogenes,  Martina  and  Maums. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


153 


The  sacred  oracles  often  recall  to  man  our  canticles 
and  our  harmonies.  They  invite  him  to  join  in  them  in 
heart  and  by  voice,  to  seek  in  them  the  supplement  to 
his  harmonies  and  chants. 

Our  concerted  melodies  elevate  the  soul  that  has  the 
happiness  to  enjoy  them.  They  revive  it,  calm  it,  fill  it 
with  courage,  give  it  a  foretaste  of  the  delights  of  the 
heavenly  home,  and  make  it  long  for  them.* 

The  celestial  harmonies  heard  by  some  souls  on  earth 
are  but  a  weak  expression  and  a  feeble  echo  of  the 
reality. 

We  take,  in  nature,  matter  delicate  and  subtle  ;  we 
impress  on  it  sonorous  vibrations  ;  we  render  it  harmoni-' 
ous.  The  sounds  that  escape  under  our  fingers  are  not 
those  of  earth,  nor  are  they  at  all  those  of  heaven. 

In  his  present  state,  man  could  not  bear  the  intimate 
and/ interior  accords  of  glory. 

In  the  midst  of  his  sufferings  a  soul  said  to  God  :  “  No, 
Lord  !  I  could  not  longer  support  such  a  trial.  My  cour¬ 
age  and  strength  would  succumb.  Hasten  to  me  ;  come, 
free  me  from  the  pressure  that  grinds  me  down.” 

An  angel  appeared  and  with  his  lyre  drew  forth  one 
of  those  notes  that  ravish  the  elect  in  their  happy  land.  - 
“Enough!  Enough!  or  I  die!”  cried  the  soul.  The 
feeling  of  pleasure  experienced  was  so  lively  that  if  the 
angel  had  continued,  the  soul  would  have  burst  the  bonds 
that  retained  it,  and  flown  far  from  earth. 


*  O  what  music  !  0  what  sweet  and  soothing  harmony  !  Who  could  tell  of 
the  modulated  strains  of  such  great  chants  ?  If  the  concert  of  human  voices,  of 
chords  and  of  organs,  invented  and  carefully  sought  out  by  men,  so  delights  and 
carries  us  away  in  this  life,  what  will  that  music  do  which  not  human  skill  but 
angelic  industry  has  called  into  being?— which  does  not  sound  exteriorly 
through  the  bodily  voice,  but  is  sweet  to  the  affections  interiorly,  certainly  the 
sweeter  the  more  within  us.  (St.  Thomas  of  Villanova,  Se-rm.  on  St.  Michael. 


154 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


The  sweetness  and  charm  of  the  angelic  voice  have 
been  described  as  well  as  human  language  could  in  a 
pious  legend. 

A  monk  had  gone  into  a  forest,  he  had  come  to  medi¬ 
tate  and  pray,  uniting  himself  to  the  morning  chaunt  of 
nature. 

Suddenly  a  little  bird  presented  itself,  brilliant  in 
color,  graceful  of  form,  giving  forth  a  celestial  harmony. 
Ravished  in  ecstasy,  the  monk  approaches,  goes  towards 
the  bird  that  flits  away,  follows  it  farther  and  yet 
farther,  finally  stops.  He  listens,  and  cannot  cease  to 
listen.  It  seems  to  him  the  days  no  longer  fly,  that  time 
has  suspended  its  course,  that  a  happy  eternity  begins; 
he  thinks  himself  in  heaven. 

Finally  the  bird  all  at  once  disappears.  The  monk 
having  listened  yet  longer,  thinking  he  still  heard  it, 
slowly  went  his  way  back  to  the  monastery. 

But  what?  Can  he  have  been  the  play  of  a  dream? 
Where  are  the  well-known  paths?  Whence  those  im¬ 
mense  trees?  How  those  walls  seem  grown  old! 

He  enters;  asks  in  vain;  vainly  tells  his  name.  He  is 
unknown,  in  the  midst  of  those  unknown  to  him.  A 
monk  of  his  name  once  dwelt  in  the  monastery  ;  but  the 
archives  attest  that  he  disappeared  one  day  in.  the  forest, 
and  that,  since  then,  three  centuries  have  gone  by.* 

Called  to  be  as  harmonious  as  wè  are,  the/demons  have 
strayed  from  their  end.  Those  lyres,  so  perfect  in 
themselves,  resound  now  only  with  the  accursed  notes  of 
pride,  hate,  envy,  and  of  every  criminal  aspiration. 
What  discordant  sounds  !  What  frightful  confusion  ! 

And  human  souls!  Are  they  not  too  lyres  of  sonor- 


*  Legend  of  Brother  Alphius. 


i 


I 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


155 


ous  chords?  Some,  tuned  by  the  rightfulness  of  their  in¬ 
tentions,  open  to  the  divine  breath,  and  begin,  in  unison 
with  us,  the  harmonies  they  will  continue  more  perfectly 
in  their  home.  The  others,  alas!  animated  only  by  the 
blast  of  impure  passion,  imitate  the  brutal  notes  of  Satan, 
and  mingle  in  the  disaccord  of  hell. 


7 


\ 

t 


/ 


/ 


156  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


XII. 

FULL  POSSESSION. 

Like  faith,  hope  has  disappeared.  It  has  vanished  in 
the  possession  of  its  object.  How  still  hope,  when  already 
we  possess? 

As  God  had  promised  us,  as  we  expected  of  His  word 
and  of  his  favor,  He  has  given  us  Himself  as  our  recom¬ 
pense.  He  is  our  property,  our  riches. 

We  possess  Him  no  longer  in  an  imperfect  manner. 
Everything  in  Him  is  ours,  and  we  enjoy  everything  in 
Him.  His  light,  His  delights,  His  power,  His  mercy, 
form  our  treasure:  We  enjoy  God  as  truly  as  he  enjoys 
Himself.  ’Tis  the  same  object  producing  in  Him  infinite 
happiness,  in  us  a  happiness  such  as  is  compatible  with 
our  condition  as  creatures. 

We  possess  God  better  than  any  good  will  be  possessed 
out  of  Him  ;  we  possess  not  superficially,  but  entirely  in 
Himself,  in  His  infinite  value. 

God  has  given  our  power  of  enjoyment  an  energy  and 
sensibility  that  surpass  all  conception.  Our  faculties 
transformed,  our  whole  life  rendered  perfect,  the  enjoy¬ 
ment  is  pure  and  complete.  It  is  an  ineffable  delectation 
resulting  from  the  sentiment  of  beauty  and  of  the  divine 
goodness. 

The  artist  seeks  beauty  in  the  arts  ;  he  passes  his  life 
in  gathering  its  features  together;  he  sacrifices  his  goods, 
his  time,  his  repose,  to  procure  for  himself  the  pleasure 
of  one  day  seeing  it  less  imperfect. 


157 


I  y 

MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

When  he  has  realized  his  masterpiece,  when  he  has 
seen  some  rays  of  the  ideal  that  floated  before  the  eye 
of  his  genius,  he  experiences  an  enjoyment  which  a  soul 
less  richly  endowed  than  his  could  not  conceive  of.  It  is 
rapture  that  borders  on  ecstasy. 

Make  this  passion  for  beauty  a  thousand  times  more 
lively  ;  suppose  the  features  of  the  beautiful  a  thousand 
times  more  perfect:  does  it  not  seem  to  you  there  must 
be  plenitude  in  possession  and  enjoyment? 

But  at  what  a  distance  from  the  divine'  reality  will  al¬ 
ways  be  human  imagination  and  suppositions  ! 

Take  a  heart  elevated  above  the  common  condition  by 
the  sublime  passion  of  doing  good.  Let  a  generous 
nature  have  prepared  it  for  the  operations  of  grace  ;  let 
grace  come,  dilate  it,  and  fire  it  with  a  superior  love  ; 
let  all  the  physical  and  moral  mysteries  of  the  world  offer 
themselves  to  its  eyes — what  emotion  !  what  anguish  ! 

Put  at  its  disposal  the  treasures  from  which  it  is 
granted  it  to  draw  at  will — what  a  thrill  I  wdiat  transport  ! 

This  delight  in  the  exercise  of  goodness  will  be  never¬ 
theless  limited  and  finite.  Even  the  heart  of  a  Vincent 
de  Paul  could  not  furnish  to  the  world  the  image  of  the 
rapture  produced  in  heaven  by  the  possession  of  goodness 
and  of  charity. 

See  one  of  those  souls  whom  the  dart  of  divine  love 
has  wounded.  It  seeks  only  God,  it  wants  only  God. 
It  despoils  itself  of  everything;  it  experiences  pain  un¬ 
speakable,  at  the  sight  of  an  offence  to  God.  Sometimes, 
listening  only  to  the  love  of  penance,  it  resigns  itself  to 
the  length  of  its  exile  ;  sometimes,  yielding  to  a  desire  of 
contemplation,  it  aspires  to  a  dissolution  of  the  body. 
Who  will  give  it  to  break  its  bonds,  to  fly  far  from  the 
earth,  to  see  its  Well-Beloved,  to  possess  Him! 


158 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


In  the  midst  of  darkness,  a  halo  of  light  is  formed  ; 
the  Redeemer  appears,  covered  with  wounds,  bathed  in 
Ilis  blood,  borne  down  by  His  cross.  He  says  to  this 
soul:  “ Behold  me!  I  am  thine.”  Express,  if  you  can, 
the  effects  of  such  a  favor  I 

And  still,  what  imperfection!  God  gives  Himself 
wholly  ;  but  to  receive  Him  as  He  gives  Himself,  the 
transformation  of  glory  is  needed. 

On  earth',  neither  the  possession  of  material  goods,  nor 
that  of  beauty,  nor  that  even  of  the  supernatural  treas¬ 
ures  of  grace,  are  perfect  possessions.  The  object  es¬ 
capes  us  always  by  some  wTay.  It  never  allows  itself  to 
be  held  entirely  and  enjoyed.  Full  enjoyment  by  full 
possession  is  one  of  the  great  mysteries  of  heavenly  hap¬ 
piness. 

This  mystery  is  accomplished  by  an  admirable  and 
wonderful  operation:  the  continual  union  of  desire  and 
of  enjoyment.  The  Incarnate  Word  has  said:  “The 
angels  see  the  face  of  my  Father  who  is  in  heaven.” 
His  highest  representative  on  earth,  the  prince  of  the 
apostles,  will  say:  “The  angels  aspire  to  contemplate 
Him.”* 

This  double  revelation  gives  us  the  secret  of  the  di¬ 
vine  delights.  The  desire  brings  into  enjoyment  a  life 
that  forestalls  all  disgust;  enjoyment  imparts  to  desire  a 
satisfaction  that  eliminates  trouble  and  anguish,  f 

What  fulness  in  enjoyment!  What  vivacity  in  desire! 
But  the  union  alone  of  desire  and  of  enjoyment  gives 
perfect  happiness. 

*  Matt.  c.  18,  v.  10.  St.  Peter  i,  c.  1,  v.  12. 

f  That  there  may  be  no  anxiety  in  desire,  those  desiring  are  sated;  lesl  there 
there  be  in  satiety  disgust,  those  sated  still  desire.  (St.  Gregory,  Morals,  1. 18,  c. 
27.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


159 


XIII. 

CONFIRMATION. 

Among  the  sentiments  that  make  our  hearts  beat 
in  the  bosom  of  God,  there  is  one  which  dominates  all 
the  others,  and  gives  them  an  infinite  sweetness:  it  is 
the  absolute  certainty  of  never  losing  the  possession  of 
God.*  ^ 

This  possession  could  be  lost  only  by  infidelity.  Now, 
as  a  recompense  for  our  past  conduct  we  have  been  placed 
in  the  impossibility  of  becoming  unfaithful.  We  shall 
never  be  able  to  offend  God,  nor  cease  to  be  acceptable 
to  Him.  Eternity  has  put  its  inviolable  seal  upon  the 
union  we  contracted  with  Him  in  time.f 

We  are  at  the  end  of  our  journey,  we  shall  not  be 
sent  back  on  the  way  ;  we  have  reached  the  shore,  and 
shall  not  be  driven  out  into  the  midst  of  the  waves  ;  we 
are  under  protection,  and  shall  not  again  become  the  sport 
of  the  tempest;  we  possess  the  crown,  and  we  shall  not 
have  to  give  battle  anew. 

This  assurance  establishes  us  in  unalterable  repose.  It 
is  the  fruit  and  the  recompense  of  the  one  apprehension 
we  had  in  the  day  of  trial, 

*  It  follows  that  perfect  beatitude  requires  not  only  vision,  love  and  enjoyment, 
hut  also  the  perpetuity  of  these,  and  the  knowledge  of  such  perpetuity.  (Lessius 
De  Summo  Bono,  1.  3,  c.  9.) 

f  Though  changeable  by  nature,  they  were  made  unchangeable  by  grace. 
Stable-and  sure  of  never  losing  their  happiness,  they  enjoy  God,  in  the  contem¬ 
plation  of  whom  they  are  happy.  (St.  Fulgentitis,  De  Trinitate,  c.  8.) 


160 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


Our  will  has  been  confirmed  in  good,  and  could  not  be 
turned  from  it.  It  is  penetrated,  like  iron  by  fire,  as 
crystal  by  light.  It  is  identified  with  good  ;  good  is  its 
element. 

Our  will  directs  itself  to  God,  source  of  perfect  happi¬ 
ness,  as  that  of  man,  still  in  his  journey  towards  good  in 
general.  Just  as  it  is  impossible  for  man  not  to  desire 
happiness,  it  is  impossible  for  us  not  to  seek  happiness  at 
its  true  source.  The  same  inclination  takes  us  to  happi¬ 
ness  and  to  God.* 

For  those  who  have  once  contemplated  God,  He  is  an 
irresistible  loadstone  that  draws  and  fixes  them.  From 
the  moment  hearts  approach  Him,  they  find  themselves 
subjected  to  a  sovereign  attraction,  and  cannot  think  of 
flying. f  It  would  be  necessary  to  show  them  elsewhere 
a  more  excellent  object,  one  more  beautiful,  better  than 
God. 

Bid  the  star  rush  from  its  orbit,  the  stone  fall  far  from 
its  centre,  the  flower  seek  another  place  than  its  stem, 
the  child  refuse  its  mother’s  breast 

We  are  kept  in  the  bosom  of  God  by  the  bonds  of  His 
ineffable  amiability.  Indissolubly  united  to  perfect  good, 
we  are  incapable  of  any  evil.  We  are  as  impeccable  as 
God  Himself,  who  thinks,  acts,  and  lives  in  us.  We  are 
not  at  all  so  by  nature  ;  but  by  reason  of  our  union  with 
Him.  In  this  union  our  weakness  has  disappeared,  as 
rust  from  iron. 

•  \ 

*  The  angel  seeing  God  has  the  same  kind  of  relation  with  Him  that  any  one 
not  seeing  God  has  to  ordinary  good.  (St.  Thomas  1,  q.  62,  art.  8.) 

f  The  more  perfect  and  the  more  endowed  with  charity,  the  more  powerfully 
are  they  drawn,  and  most  powerfully  of  all  the  soul  of  Christ.  (Lessius,  De 
Summo  Bono,  1.  2,  c.  13.) 

J  The  angelic  will  reaching  its  centre,  which  is  God,  is  rendered  fixed  and  im¬ 
movable  by  weight  of  love.  (Albertus  Magnus,  p.  1,  q.  6,  art.  3.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


161 


Far  from  being  taken  from  us  by  the  happy  impossi¬ 
bility  of  its  leading  us  to  evil,  our  liberty  has  been  ele¬ 
vated  to  its  highest  degree.  The  impossibility  of  pro¬ 
nouncing  any  false  judgment  does  not  diminish  the  intel¬ 
ligence  ;  it  strengthens  and  perfects  it. 

In  full  possession  of  the  One  alone  desired  of  us,  we 
feel  that  we  shall  always  thus  possess  Him.  This  feel¬ 
ing  reunites  in  our  hearts  all  the  delights  of  a  happy 
eternity. 

A  continual  and  immense  lamentation  mounts  from 
earth  to  our  ears.  It  is  the  sighing  of  loving  souls  who, 
experiencing  their  weakness,  give  forth  their  apprehen¬ 
sions  and  their  fears. 

They  love  God — will  they  love  Him  always?  There 
was  a  time  when  they  had  forgotten  Him!  And  even 
should  they  have  always  lived  in  innocence,  they  could 
still  fall  away  from  it!  ' 

Their  most  ardent  vow,  their  most  fervent  prayer,  is 
what  the  Incarnate  Word  has  put  on  their  lips:  “Deliver 
us  from  evil  !” 

What  transport,  were  it  suddenly  revealed  to  them 
that  they  had  been  confirmed  in  grace!  What  more 
lively  transports  still  did  they  feel  themselves  confirmed, 
as  we  are,  in  the  perfect  love  of  God,  by  the  union  of 
glory. 

This  assurance  makes  the  future  of  our  eternity  shine 
with  a  far  more  beautiful  lustre,  in  our  eyes  :  it  drives 
from  the  pure  gold  the  last  atom  of  alloy;  it  renders  our 
delight  sweet,  vivid,  pure  to  the  full. 

In  heaven  is  repeated  without  ceasing  the  sweet  ex- 
6 


162 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH, . 


pression  uttered  on  earth  by  trusting  souls  :  “  I  possess 
Him,  I  hold  Him,  I  will  never  let  Him  go.”* 

The  noble  heart  of  the  apostle  had  experienced  a  fore¬ 
taste  of  this  delight,  when,  in  the  midst  of  his  temptations, 
of  his  anguish,  of  his  perils,  he  cried  out: 

“I  am  certain  that  neither  death,  nor  life,  nor  angels, 
nor  principalities,  nor  powers,  nor  things  present,  nor 
things  to  come,  nor  strength,  nor  height,  nor  depth,  nor 
any  creature,  can  separate  me  from  the  charity  which  is 
in  Christ  Jesus,  our  Lord  !  ”f 

Had  the  seraphs  to  undergo  the  same  trials,  would 
they  have  other  sentiments? — would  they  use  other 
language  ? 

*  I  seized  him,  and  I  will  not  let  him  go.  (Cant.,  c.  3,  v.  4.) 
f  St.  Paul,  Rom.,  c.  8,  v.  38,  39. 


4 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  163 


XIY. 

ACCIDENTAL  BEATITUDE. 

The  beatitude  caused  in  us  by  the  possession  of  God 
is  a  beatitude  essential  and  permanent,  that  does  not  ad¬ 
mit  of  increase.* 

But  the  beatitude  produced  by  the  sight  of  events  oc¬ 
curring  on  earth,  is  accidental  and  variable,  increasing 
each  day. 

The  graces  we  have  taken  to  our  brethren  on  earth 
are  as  seed  sown  in  their  hearts.  We  shall  follow  with 
interest  their  germination  and  development.  The  beauti¬ 
ful  actions  they  perform  are  the  harvest  that  crowns  our 
hopes. 

We  follow  through  the  ages  the  transmission  of  heav¬ 
enly  gifts,  and  we  assist  at  the  change  of  spirits  and  of 
hearts. 

Nothing  that  passes  on  earth  is  foreign  to  us.  The 
spectacle  of  events  that  transpire  is  for  us  a  source  of 
continual  joy. 

By  an  admirable  disposition  of  His  goodness,  God  has 
rendered  us  accessible  to  every  joy,  and  has  placed  us 
above  all  feeling  of  sadness  or  grief. 

The  evil  we  see  we  disapprove,  we  detest,  and  we 
unite  with  God  in  the  justice  and  mercy  of  which  the 


*  The  good  angels  cannot  merit  or  advance  in  beatitude.  (St.  Thomas,  1,  q. 
62,  art.  9.) 


164 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


I 


guilty  in  turn  are  the  object;  but  our  happiness  is  not 
thereby  affected.* 

The  lament  and  tears  that  human  language  gives  us,  ex¬ 
press  not  what  we  feel  in  reality,  but  what  we  should  feel, 
were  we  subject  to  sorrow.  On  that  account,  this  language 
has  nothing  contrary  to  truth.  We  approve  it,  and  often 
even  suggest  it.f 

Our  accidental  beatitude  increases  in  proportion  as 
happy  events  occur  under  our  eyes,  especially  those  in 
which  we  take  part  personally  ;  but  there  is  no  suffering 
or  sadness  in  reality  at  the  sight  of  untoward  events. 

The  development  of  the  life  of  grace,  the  increase  of 
the  mystic  body  of  the  Redeemer,  the  combats  and  tri¬ 
umphs  of  Holy  Church,  the  universal  flowering  of  virtue, 
the  mysteries  and  the  wonders  of  the  Precious  Blood,  the 
continual  apparition  of  new  souls,  new  generations,  new 
voices  united  to  our  own,  new  hearts  one  with  our 
hearts  ;  this  is  what  produces  and  perpetuates  our  acci¬ 
dental  beatitude. J 

This  beatitude  is  not  the  effect  of  new  merit,  for  in 
heaven  we  merit  no  more  ;  it  is  the  fruit  of  essential  be¬ 
atitude.  || 

It  will  increase  till  the  day  of  general  judgment,  and 
will  receive  its  fulness  at  the  coronation  of  the  last  of  the 
elect.§ 

*  As  God  himself,  although  he  sees  them  all,  and  loves  Himself  move  than  He 
is  loved  by  the  angels,  is  not  saddened  by  these  offenses.  (Suarez,  1.  6,  c.  20, 
n.  12.) 

f  Whence  these  modes  of  speech  of  the  saints  are  to  be  understood  metaphori¬ 
cally  :  as  too  much  feeling  is  wont  to  be  attributed  to  God,  to  signify  charity 
towards  man,  and  how  much  impiety  displeases  Him.  (Suarez,  ibid.) 

Î  This  joy  pertains  to  accidental  reward.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  62,  art.  9.) 

8  The  aforesaid  joy  is  acquired  by'  virtue' of  beatitude.  (Ibid.) 

I  It  can  increase  to  the  day  of  judgment.  (Ibid.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


165 


XV. 

THE  DEGREES. 

The  great  and  common  dwelling-place  18 

bosom  of  God.*  But  in  the  bosom  of  God  there  are 
special  mansions.  The  circles  of  glory  or  beatific  spheres 
that  have  received  us,  are  infinite  in  number  and  infin¬ 
itely  varied,  f 

The  stars  sown  in  the  firmament  of  glory,  when  we 
came,  are  not  of  the  same  size,  nor  do  they  shine  with 
the  same  brillancy.  Their  beauty  and  light  differ. $ 

Grace  having  been  proportioned,  in  each  angel,  to  the 
excellence  of  his  nature,  and  correspondence  to  that  grace 
having  been  perfect  in  all,  it  results  from  this  that,  in  all, 
glory  itself  is  proportioned  to  nature  and  to  grace. 

Our  beatific  degrees  extend  to  all  kinds  of  perfection. 
The  spirits  most  perfect  in  one  point  are  the  most  perfect 
in  every  respect  ;  they  are  the  master-pieces  of  nature, 
of  grace,  and  of  glory. 

The  glory  of  human  souls  will  not  be  proportioned,  as 
ours  is,  to  the  excellence  of  their  individual  nature  ;  it 
will  be  proportioned  to  their  merits,  and  these  merits  will 
be  of  every  degree,  from  that  of  the  child,  that  brings 
with  it  its  baptismal  innocence  only,  to  that  of  the  hero 

*  God  liimself  is  the  greatest  mansion  of  blessed  spirits.  (St.  Bern.,  Consid., 

1. 1,  c.  1.) 

t  St.  John,  c.  12,  v.  2. 

Î  St.  Paul,  1,  Cor.,  c.  15,  v.  41. 


/ 


166 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


of  fidelity,  who  comes  with  a  century  of  strong  and 
patient  virtue.* 

We  see  God  immediately,  and  we  possess  Him  as  He 
is  with  His  infinite  perfection  ;  but  this  sight,  this  pos¬ 
session,  and  the  happiness  they  produce,  vary  according 
to  our  respective  capacity,  which  is  not  infinite.  Always 
the  same  in  its  object,  celestial  beatitude  has  degrees  in 
the  one  who  possesses  it.  These  dëgrees  consist  in  the 
extent  and  intensity  of  possession.! 

Each  one  of  the  elect  is  perfectly  satisfied.  No  one 
envies  those  superior  to  him.  If  the  delight  of  the  in¬ 
ferior  is  less,  it  is  because  he  has  less  capacity  to  compre¬ 
hend  God,  who  gives  Himself  to  him  as  He  does  to  the 
highest  spirit.  Since  the  time  of  our  transformation, 
our  faculties  are  filled  with  the  delight  we  feel. 

Like  a  number  of  golden  vases,  our  hearts  had  been 
ranged  on  the  bank  of  the  river  of  delights.  Plunged 
all  together  to  the  bottom  of  the  river,  they  have  not  all  re¬ 
ceived  an  equal  amount  of  the  divine  element,  because 
they  have  not  an  equal  capacity  ;  but  with  the  most  deli¬ 
cate  feeling,  no  one  could  be  jealous  of  the  greater  amount 
he  sees  in  the  others.  Environed  and  filled  with  the 
beatific  element,  he  feels  in  himself  no  void  to  be  made  up. 

In  the  edifice  of  the  holy  city,  each  living  stone  feels 
itself  made  for  the  place  it  occupies,  and  aspires  to  no 
other.  It  is  united  to  the  stones  that  surround  it  by  the 
unchanging  cement  of  love. 

*  Thus  the  Fathers  against  Jovinianus,  who  thought  virtues  equal,  and  like¬ 
wise  the  reward  in  heaven.  (Corn,  a  Lap.) 

f  The  faculty  of  serving  God  belongs  to  the  intellect  by  the  light  of  glory 
which  in  a  certain  way  renders  the  intellect  deiform  ;  whence  the  intellect 
which  most  participates  of  the  light  of  glory,  will  see  God  more  perfectly.  That 
being  will  more  participate  of  this  light  of  glory,  who  will  have  more  charity. 
(St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  12,  art.  6.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


167 


Far  from  marring  in  us  our  happiness,  this  inequality 
is  a  new  source  of  it.  It  is  one  more  beauty  in  heaven, 
and  one  means  more  of  praising  God. 

When  I  contemplate  a  most  perfect  spirit,  I  feel  my¬ 
self  new  ravished  at  seeing  God  blessed,  loved,  glorified 
in  a  more  perfect  way. 

Or  rather,  it  is  I  who  love,  bless  and  glorify  more  per¬ 
fectly.  By  charity  every  celestial  good  ceases  to  be  an 
exclusive  possession,  and  becomes  the  part  of  all.”* 

Does  a  child  well  born  suffer  in  seeing  his  brother 
give  his  father  more  joy  than  he  can  himself?  Without 
doubt,  no  ;  but  he  is  filled  with  pleasure,  and  joins  in  the 
feeling  of  all  with  all  the  vivacity  of  his  filial  piety. 

What  joy,  0  Lord!  to  see  hearts  more  ardent  in  Thy 
love,  voices  more  pure  in  Thy  praise,  creatures  more  ex¬ 
cellent  to  give  Thee  honor  !  In  my  zeal  for  Thy  glory,  I 
take  all  these  benedictions,  all  these  acts  of  adoration  of 
heaven,  and  with  an  energy  that  carries  me  beyond  and 
above  myself,  I  present  them  as  coming  from  me,  and  as 
my  personal  offering. 

Master-piece  of  celestial  concord  !  I  do  not  live  more 
in  myself  :  I  live  in  each  of  my  brethren,  and  each  one 
of  them  lives  in  me.  I  am  no  longer  one  ;  I  am  the 
multitude  ;  I  am  thousands  of  angels,  and  the  thousands 
of  angels,  with  their  multitude,  are  one.  Admirable 
unity  !  Multiplicity  not  less  worthy  of  admiration  !  f 

*  By  charity  it  comes  about  that  what  each  one  has  is  common  to  all.  In  this 
way  he  too  himself  possesses  when  he  loves  in  another  what  he  has.  (St.  Aug.)  In 
that  heavenly  country  nothing  is  possessed  by  each  one  apart.  In  many  mansions 
there  will  be  concordant  diversity  of  rewards,  because  so  great  a  power  of  love 
associates  us  in  that  peace,  that  what  each  one  will  not  have  received  in  himself, 
he  exults  that  he  has  received  in  another.  (St.  Greg,  the  Great,  Morals,  1. 4,  c.  31.) 

f  Nothing  is  to  be  compared  to  concord,  for  one  is,  as  it  were,  multiplied  ;  if 
two  or  ten  be  concordant,  one  is  not  one,  but  each  one  is  multiplied,  and  you 
will  find  one  in  ten  and  ten  in  one.  (St.  Maximus,  On  Fraternal  Charity .) 


BOOK  FOURTH. 


OUTPOURING  OF  DIVINE  GOODNESS  UPON 
THE  ANGELS  IN  THEIR  MISSIONS. 

t  S  s 


I: 

i 

PERPETUITY  OF  THE  STRUGGLE. 

It  was  not  enough,  0  my  God  !  to  communicate  to  us 
Thy  interior  treasures  ;  in  the  excess  of  Thy  bounty, 
Thou  hast  willed  to  make  us  share  in  Thy  exterior  glory, 
in  establishing  us  as  the  defenders  of  Thy  cause. 

The  battle  given  between  the  good  and  the  bad  angels 
is  to  continue  under  another  form  and  be  perpetuated 
through  the  ages.  The  angels  and  the  demons  will 
always  be  face  to  face,  and  at  war.  The  struggle  will 
end  only  at  the  last  judgment.* 

After  their  common  trial,  God  willed  to  bring  back  to 
the  general  plan  of  His  Providence  angels  and  demons. 
His  wisdom  will  find  the  secret  how  to  make  evil  itself 
serve  the  beauty  of  the  whole. f 

The  interests  of  His  glory,  those  of  the  Incarnate 
Word,  of  Mary,  of  man,  of  every  creature,  are  the  ob- 

*  The  stiife  bet  ween  the  angels  begun  in  heaven,  was  not  wholly  finished  there, 
but  in  this  world  tor  the  salvation  of  man  it  has  been  begun  anew,  or  renewed, 
and  lasts  to  the  end,  when  it  will  rage  the  most  actively.  (Suarez,  1.  6,  c.  10, 
n.  27.) 

t  Evils  brought  back  to  order  tend  to  the  ornament  of  the  universe.  (St. 
Aug.,  Of  Order,  1.  2,  c.  4.) 

(  1(58  ) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  169 

V 

jects  concerning  which  this  war  is  waged.  The  eternal 
triumphs  of  justice  and  of  mercy  will  be  the  result. 

The  same  adversaries  are  in  conflict  as  in  the  first  day  : 
Lucifer  and  the  rebels — Michael  and  devoted  hearts.  Far 
from  relenting,  the  ardour  that  animates  them  only  goes 
on  increasing. 

In  seeing  God  face  to  face,  we  conceive  a  love  ever 
more  inflaming,  a  zeal  ever  more  active. 

In  undergoing  the  rigors  of  His  justice,  the  demons 
feel  again  a  hatred  more  energetic,  and  form  designs  yet 
more  wicked. 

But  the  conditions  of  the  struggle  ,have  changed. 
Whilst  the  devils  have  nothing  but  their  natural  powers, 
we  have,  from  the  state  of  glory,  a  virtue  before  which 
they  are  naught  but  weakness. 

We  should  have  strength  sufficient  to  chain  them  all  up 
in  an  instant,  and  reduce  them  to  absolute  impotence. 
If  wTe  do  not  do  it,  it  is  because  divine  wisdom  has  de¬ 
cided  that  we  limit  ourselves  to  repressing  their  malice, 
permitting  them  to  exercise  it  in  a  certain  measure. 

Representing  the  justice  and  goodness  of  God,  wre 
procure  His  glory  constantly,  and  He  honors  us  con¬ 
stantly  in  senc|ing  us  to  fight  in  His  name  against  the 
hostile  legions. 

We  shall  ever  be  grateful  to  Thee,  0  my  God,  for  the 
happiness  we  experience  in  giving  battle  to  these  whom 
we  hate,  and  in  defending  those  we  love  with  Thy  love. 

I  shall  ever  remember  the  moment  that  followed  the 
sovereign  judgment  and  its  execution.’ 

The  Divine  Word  called  together  His  armies  and 
made  them  appear  in  the  magnificent  order  they  will 
preserve  for  eternity. 


170 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH \ 


He  entrusted  to  each  choir  the  mission  destined  for  it 
before  all  time,  and  in  view  of  which  it  was  created. 

Each  is  solemnly  invested  with  the  rights  and  powers 
which  will  be  its  honor  and  its  joy.  The  distinction  of 
which  it  is  the  object  will  perpetuate  the  memory  of  its 
beautiful  conduct  in  the  first  combat,  and  will  be  the 
pledge  of  future  victories. 

The  numbering  of  God’s  armies  and  their  review,  at 
the  moment  they  are  going  to  throw  themselves  anew 
upon  the  enemy  and  fight,  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
spectacles  that  heaven  offers. 

How  that  soul  would  be  ravished  to  whom  it  might  be 
given  me  to  present  some  picture  of  it! 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH . 


171 


* 


II. 

THE  PRINCE  OF  DARKNESS. 

Before  considering  the  great  army  of  God  in  its 
majesty,  let  us  cast  a  glance  on  that  of  Satan,  and  on  the 
allies  the  human  race  will  furnish  him. 

When  the  rebellious  spirits  were  precipitated  into  the 
abyss,  no  one  was  excepted. 

But,  by  a  special  design  of  God,  a  certain  number 
were  enabled  to  come  out  from  it,  and  spread  abroad  in 
the  atmosphere  of  the  earth,  to  concur,  against  their  in¬ 
tent,  in  a  great  work  of  Providence.  * 

Lucifer  had  this  liberty  at  first;  but  after  he  had 
tempted  Christ,  inflamed  the  heart  pf  Judas,  armed  the 
hands  of  the  executioners,  consummated  the  deicide,  he 
was  anew  chained  in  his  dungeon,  and  he  will  not  be 
permitted  to  leave  it  before  the  end  of  time.f 

There  Lucifer  tries  to  imitate  God  against  God,  and 
sends,  too,  his  angels.  |  Like  a  brigand-chief,  wounded 
and  held  down  by  pain,  he  charges  his  inferiors  to  com- 

*  A  twofold  place  of  punishment  is  due  the  devils  :  one  by  reason  of  their  fault, 
and  this  is  hell  ;  the  other,  on  account  of  the  tempting  of  men,  and  thus  is  the 
darkened  air  their  due.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  64,  art.  4.)  It  is  moss  certain  that  a 
multitude  of  demons  dwell  in  this  air.  (Suarez,  1.  8,  c.  17,  n.  7.) 

f  Of  Lucifer  only  is  it  most  certain  that  he  was  bound  by  the  power  of  Christ, 
in  a  local  and  corporal  hell.  (Suarez,  1.  8,  c.  17,  n.  9.) 

Î  Demons,  imitating  angelic  legions,  call  themselves  legion  ;  indeed  imitating 
and  rivaling  God  Himself,  who  is  called  the  Lord  of  sabaoth,  that  is,  of  armies 
and  of  angelic  legions.  For  Lucifer  is  the  ape  of  God.  (St.  Gregory  of  Nyssa.) 


k 


172  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

mit  the  robberies  he  cannot  carry  out  himself,  and  con¬ 
tinues  to  direct  them.* 

He  does  not  send  them  all  out  at  once,  but  by  turn.  The 
same  ones  are  not  always  retained,  nor  sent  out  always. 
They  succeed  each  other  in  hell  to  torment  the  damned, 
on  earth  to  tempt  the  just,  f 

All  have  preserved  the  first  aspirations  of  their  pride, 
all  covet  the  honor  due  to  God.  There  is  nothing  they 
will  not  do  to  obtain  it.  Each  wants  to  be  the  centre  of 
all,  and  attract  all  to  himself.  J 

The  principal  chiefs,  under  the  name  of  false  divinities, 
will  blind  peoples  and  make  them  violate  the  most  sacred 
laws  of  nature.  The  oracles  of  these  divinities  are  only 
the  discourse  of  demons,  and  give  rise  but  to  error. 

Never  will  man  suspect  the  monstrous  mass  of  false¬ 
hood  given  out  by  Satan  and  his  agents,  under  the  name 
of  Ammon  in  Libya,  of  Jupiter  at  Dodona,  of  Apollo  at 
Delphos,  of  Trophonius  in  Bœotia,  of  Branchides  in 
Ionia — under  an  hundred  names,  and  in  an  hundred  places. 

In  these  caverns  and  temples,  on  these  tripods  and 
altars,  are  to  be  found  always  the  same  characteristics 
of  Satan — always  lust  and  cruelty.  ’Tis  there  impure 
vice  will  reach  its  last  degree  of  infamy. 

’Tis  there  he  who  was  a  murderer  from  the  beginning, || 
may  bathe  at  his  ease  in  blood  and  tears.  There  are 

*  St.  Vincent  Ferrer,  Sermons.) 

I 

fit  seems  far  more  probable  that  no  demons  are  always  bound  in  hell,  nor 
that  others  are  so  in  this  air  that  they  never  go  down  into  hell,  but  that  they 
are  alternately  in  these  peaces.  (Suarez,  1.  8,  c.  17,  n.  2.) 

X  So  proud  are  they  that  they  industriously  seek  to  have  paid  them  the  divine 
honor  and  religious  service  which  they  know  is  due  to  God,  and  this  as  much 
as  they  can,  and  with  all  they  can  work  upon.  (St.  Aug.,  City  of  God,  1.  9,  c.  20.) 

||  St.  John,  c.  8,  v.  44. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


173 


immolated  feeble  old  men,  generous  warriors,  unhappy 
slaves,  poor  widows,  young  virgins,  little  infants  torn 
from  the  breast,  often  given  to  destruction  by  their  own 
mothers. 

And  all  this  under  the  sacred  veil  of  religion  !  To  de- 
"  stroy  souls,  a  thousand  more  lives  he  requires  than  would 
be  needed  to  save  them.  ’Tis  thus  Satan  parodies  the 
divine  work.* 

The  demons  have  kept  the  natural  hierarchy  they  had 

*>  i 

before  the  fall.  But  this  subordination  does  not  proceed 
from  any  feeling  of  charity,  of  justice,  or  of  order;  it 
comes  from  the  calculation  of  their  malice,  f 

Far  from  contributing  to  the  good  of  their  superiors, 
their  pre-eminence  aggravates  their  torments  and  renders 
their  situation  more  intolerable,  f 

Leave  to  go  out  from  the  place  of  punishment  for  a 
moment  does  not  at  all  free  the  devils  from  their  suffer¬ 
ing.  They  take  their  hell  with  them  and  feel  every¬ 
where  the  pains  of  fire  as  well  as  those  of  malediction.  || 
In  vain  they  traverse  the  air,  plunge  into  the  forests, 
take  refuge  in  barren  places,  go  over  the  earth  and  sea  ; 
nowhere  do  they  escape  divine  justice.  Ask  one  of  these 

*  He  arrogated  to  himself  divine  honors,  and  filled  the  temples  of  the  pagans 
with  all  the  demons,  and  persuaded  the  offering  of  sacrifices  to  himself.  (St.  Aug., 
on  Ps.  96.)  The  devil  filled  the  whole  world  with  his  lying  divinity.  (Tertull., 
Against  ALircion ,  c.  17.) 

f  The  concord  of  the  devils  is  not  from  the  friendship  they  have  among  them, 
but  from  common  wickedness,  by  which  they  hale  men,  and  abhor  the  justice 
of  God.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  109,  art.  2.) 

Î  That  the  inferior  are  subject  to  the  superior,  is  not  for  the  good  of  the  su¬ 
perior,  but  rather  for  their  ill  ;  because  since  to  do  evil  pertains  rather  10  mbery, 
to  preside  in  evil  is  to  be  still  more  miserable.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q  1 09  a  t  2.) 

!l  They  carry  the  fire  of  hell  with  them,  wherever  they  go.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q. 
64,  art,  4;) 


î 


174  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

»  l 

spirits  where  is  hell — “  Everywhere  I  am,”  will  be  his 
answer. 

The  demons  seem  comforted  when  they  do  evil,  or 
cause  it  to  be  done  ;  but  they  are  not.  In  spite  of  bursts 
of  sinister  laughter  which  resound  in  the  darkness,  and 
in  spite  of  all  their  demonstrations,  they  find  no  true 
joy  ;  for  them  everything  is  bitter  deception.  They  are 
like  the  senseless  man  who  thinks  himself  on  the  point  of 
being  content  in  exciting  a  passion,  the  violence  of  which 
tortures  him. 

A  joy  so  fleeting,  so  accidental,  so  empty,  diminishes 
in  no  way  the  essential  and  permanent  pain  of  reproba 
tion.* 

Lightning  dazzles,  but  it  only  renders  more  oppressive 
the  darkness  of  night.  In  like  manner  the  pretended 
joy  of  the  demons  serves  to  render  more  exructiating 
and  intolerable  their  punishment. 

Greater  in  a  far  different  sense  than  the  joy  of  pos¬ 
sessing  a  soul,  is  their  pain  when  one  escapes  them. 

Nothing  can  equal  their  torments  under  the  exorcisms 
of  the  church.  It  is  like  a  new  fire  which  seizes  on 
them,  and  makes  them  cry  out  frightfully. f  Still  how 
they  show  themselves  tenacious  and  slow  to  leave  ! 

At  the  last  judgment  all  the  evil  spirits  will  appear 
just  as  the  souls  that  are  damned  ;  all  will  come  to  hear 
their  last  and  solemn  sentence. f 

After  the  judgment  there  will  be  no  leaving  hell,  no 

*  Tins  joy  is  not  true,  but  apparent,  when  their  desire  is  fulfilled.  (St.  Thomas.) 

f  “  I  am  burning  !  I  am  burning  !  ’  ’  exclaimed  a  devil  in  exorcism.  ( Life  of  St. 
M.  Magi,  del  JPazzi,  Bollandists.) 

J  They  will  be  judged  by  judgment  of  retribution,  with  reference  to  the  evil 
deserts  of  men  whom  they  tempted,  to  deserve  punishment.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q. 
89,  art.  8.) 


\ 


r 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  175 

diversion  from  the  uniformity  of  torment.  It  will  be 
misery  in  every  way  consummate.* 

The  prospect  of  this  causes  them  continual  terror. 
The  wicked  spirits,  cast  out  one  day  from  a  possessed 
man  by  our  Saviour,  thought  they  were  going  to  be 
thrust  back  into  the  abyss.  In  consternation,  they  asked 
to  be  allowed  to  enter  into  a  herd  of  swine. f 

Into  the  bodies  of  swine  !  They  who  did  not  find 
sufficiently  elevated  the  thrones  offered  them  in  the 
bosom  of  light! 

Such  is  the  present  condition  of  the  unhappy  spirits 
ranged  under  the  standard  of  revolt.  Such  is  the  army 
of  Satan,  an  army  without  God. 

The  angels  of  this  army,  all  angels  of  darkness,  seem 
not  to  see  except  in  the  night.  They  avoid  the  day¬ 
light,  and  never  fight  face  to  face,  openly.  In  every¬ 
thing,  everywhere,  always,  Satan  and  his  agents  keep  the 
tortuous  ways  of  the  serpent,  and  carry  on  their  work  by 
ruse  and  surprise. 

*  After  the  day  of  judgment  all  the  bad,  men  as  well  as  angels,  will  he  in  he'll. 
(St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  64,  art.  4.)  They  will  experience  misery  in  every  way  consum¬ 
mate.  (Suarez,  1.  8,  c.  15,  n.  16.) 

f  St.  Luke,  c.  8,  v.  31-32. 


176 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


'  III. 

THE  ALLIES  OF  SATAN. 

The  army  of  Satan  will  recruit  among  men  allies 
worthy  of  it.  There  are  some  who  merit  to  he  made 
chiefs  of  it,  and  who,  like  Satan  himself,  will  be  called 
antichrists. 

What  treasures  of  hate,  of  hypocrisy,  of  cruelty,  will 
not  Satan  amass  in  the  famous  wicked  men  of  each  age! 

By  the  antichrists  of  violence  he  will  shed  torrents  of 
blood,  take  thousands  of  lives,  fathom  the  depths  of  suf¬ 
fering. 

By  the  antichrists  of  heresy  he  will  taint  the  holy  light 
itself,  propagate  error,  tear  from  the  arms  of  the  Church 
entire  peoples. 

By  the  antichrists  of  the  pen,  he  will  flood  cities  and 
country  districts  with  blasphemy,  corrupt  innocence, 
destroy  the  moral  sense,  make  falsehood  and  vice  domi¬ 
nant  everywhere. 

By  the  antichrists  of  hypocrisy,  he  will  oppress  con¬ 
science  under  pretext  of  protection  ;  interdict  the  bread 
of  life  to  young  souls  ;  render  darkness  obligatory,  under 
the  name  of  light. 

By  the  antichrists  of  secret  societies,  his  agents  of  pre¬ 
dilection,  he  will  procure  the  profanation  of  churches,  the 
overturning  of  altars,  the  annihilation  of  the  work  of  Christ. 

The  life  of  the  Church,  aided  by  the  holy  angels,  will 
be  but  one  heroic  struggle  of  her  children  against  anti¬ 
christs,  men  and  demons. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


17T 


At  the  end  of  time  all  these  antichrists  will  be  per¬ 
sonified  in  one,  who  will  have  the  malice,  the  hate,  the 
perversity,  the  power  of  all.  He  will  be  not  only  an 
antichrist,  but  the  antichrist,  the  adversary  and  the  rival 
of  Christ. 

Antichrist  will  not  be  a  pure  spirit  ;  he  will  have  a 
body  and  a  soul  ;  he  will  be  a  man. 

But  this  man  will  be  so  one  with  Satan,  he  will  be  so 
filled  with  his  spirit,  he  will  obey  him  so  faithfully  in 
everything,  he  will  so  fully  have  his  power  for  evil,  that 
he  will  reproduce  Satan  to  the  life,  and  will  do  all  that 
Satan  incarnate  would  do. 

Antichrist  will  follow  the  path  of  Christ  and  endeavor 
to  imitate  Him  in  all  things,  so  as  to  turn  all  against  Him. 
He  will  have  breadth  of  intelligence,  facility  of  speech, 
grace  of  expression,  a  natural  charm  of  person. 

He  will  work  no  true  miracles,  but  tricks,  prodigies, 
and  apparent  miracles.  He  will  present  himself  as  an 
envoy  of  heaven,  to  render  everything  perfect,  and  open 
to  man  a  new  era  of  prosperity.* 

We  shall  be  obliged  to  recall  to  the  just  the  admoni¬ 
tion  of  their  great  Apostle  :  that  the  angel  of  darkness 
will  transform  himself  into  an  angel  of  light  ;  that  they 
must  keep  themselves  on  their  guard  against  novelties  ; 
that  every  doctrine  contrary  to  what  was  preached  in  the 
beginning,  deserves  anathema,  should  even  an  angel  be 
the  herald  of  it.f 


*  Antichrist  will  work  miracles,  not  indeed  true  ones,  but  false  and  menda¬ 
cious.  For  many  ofliis  miracles  will  be  tricks  by  which  he  will  fascinate  the 
eyes,  that  he  may  appear  to  do  what  he  really  will  not  do.  (Corn.,  a  Lapide, 
Com.  on  2  lip.  to  Thess.,  c.  2,  v.  9.) 
f  St.  Paul,  Cal.,  c.  1,  v.  8. 

8* 


178 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


Turned  against  him  by 'the  strange  assertions  that  will 
issue  from  his  mouth,  frightened  by  the  sombre  fire  that 
will  shew  itself  in  his  look,  pure  souls  will  not  be  able 
to  bear  his  presence,  and  will  flee  from  it. 

But  among  the  imprudent,  the  wavering,  the  weak, 
how  many  dupes  and  victims  Î 

In  the  very  midst  of  his  seductions  and  of  his  tri¬ 
umphs,  he  will  see  himself  all  at  once  arrested. 

Surrounded  by  his  legions,  the  glorious  lieutenant  of 
Christ,  Saint  Michael,  will  come  before  him  and  engage 
him  in  a  battle  that  will  recall  the  first  one.* 

His  deceptions  unveiled,  his  falsehoods  laid  bare,  his 
power  broken  by  the  breath  of  the  Divine  mouth  as  by 
a  stroke  of  lightning,  antichrist  will  be  stricken  down.f 
Through  the  yawning  earth  he  will  descend  to  hell, 
and  for  eternity  he  will  see  himself  the  plaything  of 
Satan  he  served  so  well,  and  whose  choicest  conquest  he 
will  be.J 

This  will  be  the  last  triumph  of  the  Incarnate  Word, 
and  of  His  angels,  in  time.  The  more  glorious  triumph 
of  the  last  judgment  will  be  less  of  time  than  of  eternity. 

But  face  to  face  with  the  army  of  the  demons,  rein¬ 
forced  by  all  the  human  antichrists,  let  us  hasten  to  con¬ 
template  the  army  of  God. 

Come,  just  souls,  who  seek  everywhere  safety  and 
consolation:  come,  hear,  see.  You  will  understand  this 
high  and  touching  truth  ;  that  in  spite  of  all  the  assaults 
of  hell,  no  soul  will  perish  save  that  which  willed  to  do  so. 

*  Dan.,  c.  12,  v.  1. 

f  Thessal.,  c.2,  v.  8. 

|  Presently  the  earth  will  swallow  Antichrist  alive,  and  demons  will  carry  him 
off  to  hell.  (Corn.,  a  Lap.,  on  Apoc.,  c.  19.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


179 


r v.  • 

THE  ARMY  OE  GOD. 

Cease,  oh  man,  cease  to  wish  to  reach  with  thy  glance 
the  limit  of  the  armies  that  cover  the  field  of  heaven. 
Immense  is  the  number  of  the  soldiers  of  God.  Known 
by  the  Blessed,  it  could  not  be  by  those  whom  the  light 
of  glory  has  not  yet  illumined.  Bounded  and  finite  in 
itself,  it  will  appear  to  thee  always  as  infinite,  and  no 
expression  of  thy  language  will  be  able  to  equal  it.* 

Daniel  will  say  :  “  The  Ancient  of  days  tôok  His  seat 
on  the  throne  .  .  .  millions  of  angels  served  Him, 

and  millions  of  millions  ministered  unto  Him.”f 

And  David  :  u  The  chariot  of  God  was  of  ten  thou¬ 
sand  angels  ;  there  were  thousands  who  rejoiced  to  bear 
God  on  their  wings. 

And  St.  John:  “ I  heard  the  voice  of  a  multitude  of 
angels  around  the  throne  of  the  Lamb  ;  they  were  thou¬ 
sands  of  thousands.” || 

After  having  heard  and  recounted  these  words,  the 

*  Exceeding  the  weak  and  narrow  measurement  of  our  numbers.  (St.  Denys, 
On  the  Celestial  Hierarchy,  c.  14.)  The  assembled  host  is  in  some  way  infinite. 
(St.  Greg.  Nys.,  De  Opificio  Horn.,  c.  17.)  The  number  of  the  heavenly  citizens 
is  expressed  as  infinite  and  as  definite,  to  be  numbered  by  God,  but  impossible  to 
be  numbered  by  us.  (St.  Greg.,  Morals,  1.  17,  c.  9.) 

f  Dan.,  c.  7,  v.  10. 

Î  Ps.  67,  v.  18.  The  chariot  of  God  were  thousands  of  holy  angels,  not  groan¬ 
ing  under  the  weight,  but  rejoicing  and  applauding  for  the  delight  of  carrying 
the  Lord.  (Be  larmin,  on  this  Ps.) 

I  Apoc.,  c.  5.  v.  11. 


180 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


learned  Doctor,  just  as  the  humble  believer,  must  return 
and  stop  at  those  of  Job.  “Who  then  will  number  the 
soldiers  of  the  Most  High  ?  ”* 

Compared  to  pure  spirits,  the  just  from  among  men 
will  form,  after  the  ages  have  rolled  past,  with  all  their 
generations,  but  a  small  flock. f 

In  the  flock  of  the  Sovereign  Pastor,  the  angels  are 
the  ninetymine  faithful  sheep,  the  human  race  is  the 
stray  sheep  brought  back  to  the  fold.J 

The  ten  drachmas,  the  riches  of  the  Creator,  are  the 
beings  endowed  with  intelligence.  The  tenth,  so  un¬ 
happily  lost,  so  joyfully  found,  is  the  collection  of  human 
souls.  || 

In  showing  the  numerical  superiority  of  the  angels 
over  men,  these  comparisons  and  figures  could  not  give 
it  precisely.  Their  aim  is  only  to  give  a  high  idea  of  it. 

This  immense  multitude  of  angels  was  due  to  the 
honor  of  God.  It  became  the  dignity  of  such  a  King 
to  have  a  people  and  armies  without  number. § 

It  seemed  also  demanded  by  Divine  Wisdom. 

In  drawing  from  nothing  His  creatures,  God  specially 
proposed  to  Himself  the  perfection  of  the  universe.  He 
was  therefore  obliged,  in  consequence,  to  perfect  the 
number  of  creatures  that  compose  it,  up  to  the  degree  of 

*  Job,  c.  25,  v.  3. 

f  St.  Luke,  c.  12,  v.  32.  The  flock  of  the  faithful  is  little,  if  it  be  compared 
with  the  angels  who  are  numberless.  (Euthymius.) 

X  The  rich  Father,  whose  hundredth  portion  we  are,  has  innumerable  flocks  of 
angels,  archangels  and  others.  (St.  Ambrose,  On  St.  Luke,  c.  15.) 

||  He  had  therefore  ten  drachmas,  because  there  are  nine  orders  of  the  angels; 
but  to  complete  the  number  of  the  elect,  man  is  the  tenth  creature.  (St.  Gregor. 
Horn  33,  On  St.  Luke.) 

I  Prov.,  c.  14,  v.  28. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


181 


their  respective  perfections,  and  to  create  them  the  more 
numerous  as  He  created  them  the  more  perfect.  How 
great  then  must  be  the  number  of  the  angels,  to  surpass 
the  number  of  inferior  substances  as  many  times  as  the 
perfection  of  spirits  exceeds  that  of  bodies  ?  * 

The  perfection  of  the  universe  pre-supposes  greatness 
as  one  essential  condition.  In  the  material  world  this 
condition  is  fulfilled  by  extent  :  in  the  spiritual  world  that 
can  be  only  by  number,  and  by  what  number  ?  f 

If  each  spirit  should  become  visible  under  the  form  of 
a  flake  of  snow,  and  man  could  perceive  them  at  any  dis¬ 
tance,  what  vast  whirlwinds  of  snow  would  appear  to 
him  in  those  unfathomable  abysses  where  the  physical 
world  with  its  stars  and  suns  is  but  a  point  ?  J 

Well!  that  immense  number  of  defenders  of  His  cause, 
of  adorers  of  His  majesty,  of  promoters  of  His  glory, 
that  the  armies  of  God  count,  wouldst  believe  it,  oh  man  ? 
— this  number  God  finds  insufficient.  He  wants  one  arm 
more,  one  heart  more,  one  devout  service  more  ;  ’tisthou, 
my  brother,  whom  He  wishes  to  enroll  in  His  holy  ranks, 
and  give  us  as  an  ally. 

Human  souls  will  share  the  functions  of  the  nine 
choirs,  and  will  bear  with  us  the  sword  for  attack,  the 
buckler  for  defense. 

The  army  of  Satan  and  his  allies  will  dispose  of  all 
natural  resources.  Clothed  about  w^th  the  arms  only  of 

*  Since  the  perfection  of  the  universe  is  what  God  especially  intended  in  the 
creation  of  things,  the  more  perfect  some  are,  so  much  the  more  numerous  were 
they  created  by  God.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  50,  art.  3.) 

f  As  in  bodies  excess  is  considered  with  respect  to  bulk,  so  in  incorporeal 
things  excess  is  considered  with  respect  to  number, .  .  .  Whence  it  is  reasona¬ 
ble  that  immaterial  substances  exceed  in  number  material  substances,  as  it  were, 
incomparably.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  50,  art.  3.) 

;  Vision  of  St.  Angela  of  Foligno. 


182 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


\ 

justice,  souls  and  their  angels  will  hold  them  in  check, 
and  keep  unspotted  the  honor  of  the  divine  standard. 
The  annals  of  Holy  Church  will  be  full  of  the  devotion 
and  of  the  triumph  of  her  heroes.  They  too  will  be 
called  angels  who  will  fight  with  us,  and  distinguish  them¬ 
selves  for  their  courage.* 

*  It  is  not  new  for  the  Holy  Spirit  to  call  angels,  those  whom  God  has  made 
the  ministers  of  His  power.  (Tertull.,  Against  the  Jews ,  9.)  Then  are  we  in 
spirit  angels,  when  we  are  made  ministers  of  the  Divine  will.  (M.  Aur.  Cassio- 
dorus,  On  Ps.  33.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


183 


Y. 

TAMETY. 

In  this  incalculable,  immense  number,  what  variety  ! 
The  sun,  striking  with  its  rays  the  mist  that  resolves  it¬ 
self  into  rain,  ranges  on  the  side  of  it  the  lively  colors 
of  the  rainbow.  One  sees  follow,  in  harmonious  transi¬ 
tion,  violet,  indigo,  blue,  green,  yellow,  orange,  red. 

Just  so  the  sun  of  the  invisible  world,  casting  its  rays 
upon  the  face  of  the  cloud  of  pure  spirits,  unfolds  varied 
beauty  in  infinite  degree.  * 

The  light  of  the  divine  countenance  colors  and  shades 
the  heavenly  spirits  into  three  hierarchies,  and  each  hier¬ 
archy  into  three  choirs,  each  choir  into  three  degrees.  It 
thus  multiplies  the  images  of  the  adorable  Trinity,  and 
gives  to  each  spirit  the  properties  that  distinguish  it. 

Human  imagination  is,  without  doubt,  powerless  to  re¬ 
produce  such  realities  ;  hut  what  are  its  resources  in  com¬ 
parison  with  the  infinite  intelligence  and  power  of  God? 

Outside  of  some  imperfect  forms  and  of  some  coarse 
colors,  what  does  man  conceive  ?  Does  not  what  is  for 
him  without  precedent  and  analogy  appear  always  inac¬ 
cessible  to  his  understanding  ? 

In  the  works  of  man,  I  see  only  uniformity  and  monot- 

*  Just  as  the  ray  of  the  sun  striking  the  ciouds  in  the  rain  and  serene  air  by 
efraction  forms  the  multicolored  iris,  and  the  ether  next  it  shines  around  it 
in  varied  circles  which  are  immediately  dissolved;  such  too  is  the  nature  of 
light,  the  highest  light  illuming  with  its  rays  inferior  lights.  .  .  .  The  angels 
are  secondary  lights  from  the  Trinity,  which  has  the  royal  glory.  (St.  Greg. 
Naz.,  Poems ,  7.)  ... 


184  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

\ 

ony,  because  there  is  nothing  but  indigence  and  barren¬ 
ness.  Man  knows  only  how  to  imitate  man,  and  copy 
himself.  If  some  more  happy  talent  seems  to  escape  this 
fatal  law,  it  excites  universal  admiration,  and  sees  itself 
decorated  with  the  magnificent  title  of  genius,  of  creator. 

In  works  divine,  variety  is  proof  of  fecundity  and  of 
riches.  God  remains  faithful  to  His  laws  of  collection 
and  of  unity,  without  ever  repeating  Himself. 

From  the  height  of  the  empyrean,  what  flowers  I  per¬ 
ceive  on  the  earth  !  Are  there  two  that  have  the  same 
form,  the  same  perfume,  the  same  color?  I  choose  among 
those  whose  resemblance  has  united  them  under  the  same 
name.  I  cull  in  this  field  violets,  in  that  garden  roses, 
in  these  beds  lilies.  The  flowers  which  to  the  distracted 
eye  of  man  seem  to  offer  no  difference,  offer  to  mine  a 
thousand.  So  is  it  with  two  leaves  of  trees,  two  heads 
of  wheat,  two  blades  of  the  lawn. 

These  varieties  and  shades,  of  which  God  has  been 
prodigal  in  the  material  creation,  He  has  been  pleased  to 
range  in  the  spiritual  world.  He  has  willed  that  the  per¬ 
fection  of  the  substance  should  have  in  keeping  with  it 
perfection  of  form. 

The  beauty  of  the  universe  results  from  the  endless 
variety  which  the  beings  composing  it  present  in  every 
degree.  Let  the  eye  of  man  divide  beings  into  animals, 
vegetables,  minerals,  substances  animate  and  substances 
inanimate,  or  into  heavenly  and  terrestrial  bodies,  or  into 
infinitely  great  floating  in  space  and  infinitely  small 
whirling  about  in  a  drop  of  water:  everywhere,  always, 
even  to  an  immense  distance  beyond  the  limit  fixed  for  the 
sight  of  man,  the  eye  of  the  angel  will  admire  variety. 

If,  then,  the  material  world  is  so  varied  because  it 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


185 


must  conciir  toward  the  beauty  of  creation,  how  much 
more  varied  must  be  the  pure  spirits,  called  to  contribute 
to  what  is  incomparably  larger  !  * 

The  attributes  of  God  are  infinite.  God  has  willed 
that  each  angel  should  represent  one  especially,  and  praise 
in  a  special  manner  the  Author  of  nature,  of  grace,  and 
of  glory. 

To  the  enchanted  eye  of  the  elect,  what  beauty  in  this 
admirable  variety  of  the  heavenly  court  !  By  its  docility 
each  blessed  spirit  has  let  itself  be  adorned  with  a  reflec¬ 
tion  of  divine  beauty,  and  divine  beauty  shines  now  in 
all  its  splendor  in  the  angelic  world. 

*  It  is  much  more  consistent  with  the  beauty  of  the  universe,  and  consequently 
also  with  the  order  of  divine  wisdom,  that  the  angels  should  have  been  created 
in  great  variety  of  species.  (Suarez,  1. 1,  c.  12,  n.  6.) 


186 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


VI. 

UNITY. 

To  immensity  of  number,  to  infinite  variety,  the  angelic 
army  adds  unity.  Unity  is  the  seal  of  every  perfection 
in  the  divine  works. 

It  is  variety  that  produces  this  unity  in  number.  There 
is  an  intimate  union  between  the  different  corps  of  the 
heavenly  army,  because  they  reciprocally  suppose  each 
other.  Each  easily  fulfils  its  functions,  because  all  the 
rest  are  faithful  to  their  own. 

The  corps  of  the  heavenly  army  are  united  among 
themselves  by  the  bonds  of  charity.  None  is  out  of 
order,  or  not  in  keeping  with  the  general  relations.  They 
are  not  less  united  by  sharing  superior  benefits. 

Just  as  the  sun  has  not  been  created  for  itself  alone, 
but  for  all  beings  that  compose  the  universe  ;  so  the  high¬ 
est  spiritual  substances  have  been  created  so  perfect  only 
to  communicate  to  others  more  abundantly  the  good  they 
enjoy. 

Each  choir  receives  the  divine  treasures  of  a  superior 
choir,  and  transmits  them  in  part  to  an  inferior  choir. 
The  first  receives  immediately  only  from  God.  The  last 
communicates  its  riches  to  the  souls  confided  to  it. 

We  receive  and  transmit  with  equal  love  the  divine 
gifts  ;  but  we  are  more  honored  in  receiving  than  in  trans¬ 
mitting  them.  Our  dependence  on  God,  and  on  those 
who  represent  Him,  has  in  our  eyes  a  greater  degree  of 


/ 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  ,  187 

excellence  than  all  the  authority  we  can  exercise  over  our 
inferiors.* 

On  this  account  the  choirs  of  first  rank  are  not  those 
who  receive  their  name  from  their  elevation,  as  the  Dom¬ 
inations,  the  Powers,  the  Principalities,  the  Archangels, 
hut  those  Avho  receive  it  from  their  nearness  to  God,  as 
the  Thrones,  the  Cherubim,  the  Seraphim. f 

Light  is  communicated  to  us  and  distributed  among  us 
without  being  divided.  It  passes  from  one  choir  to  an¬ 
other  without  being  weakened.  A  perfect  subordination 
facilitates  its  transmission  to  the  farthest  extremities. 
The  Angels  are  happy  to  receive  it  from  the  Archangels  ; 
the  Archangels  from  the  Principalities,  and  so  of  all  the 
orders. 

We  form  a  vast  firmament,  the  harmony  of  which  is 
maintained  by  a  divine  attraction.  Our  movements  ex¬ 
ercise  wholesome  influences  over  those  who  inhabit  infe¬ 
rior  regions.  There  is  no*  wandering  star  among  us, 
without  a  fixed  orbit,  going  at  random,  outside  of  the 
general  system  and  of  unity. 

In  the  mystical  body  of  which  God  is  the  head,  we  are 
always  in  accord,  receiving  from  the  same  source  life, 
force,  direction.  Each  one  exists  and  acts  for  the  good 
of  all  the  rest.  There  is  no  member  out  of  his  place, 
suffering  and  causing  others  to  suffer.  All  that  could 
have  been  the  torment  and  the  dishonor  of  this  body  was 
cut  off  by  the  sword  of  divine  justice. 

*  It  is  more  excellent  in  the  angels  to  be  subject  to  God  than  to  preside  over 
inferiors.  (St  Thomas,  i,  q.  108,  art.  6.)  Just  as  it  is  more  glorious  for  the  Holy 
Ghost  to  proceed  from  the  Father  and  the  Son  than  to  distribute  grace  exteriorly. 
(Vivien,  Angelus.) 

f  And  therefore  the  orders  named  from  being  placed  over  others  are  not 
supreme,  but  rather  the  orders  named  from  their  nearness  to  God.  (St.  Thomas, 
i,  q.  108,  art.  6.) 


y 


188  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

The  union  of  the  three  adorable  Persons  is  the  type 
of  our  union  ;  at  the  same  time  it  is  its  source.  To  re¬ 
produce  it  in  our  feelings  and  actions  shall  ever  be  our 
glory  and  our  happiness. 


\ 


r 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


189 


■VII. 

THE  HIERARCHIES. 

We  are  divided  into  three  hierarchies,  according  to  the 
three  modes  in  which  we  represent  God,  in  His  perfec¬ 
tions,  and  in  the  transmission  of  His  treasures. 

The  first  hierarchy,  composed  of  Seraphim,  Cherubim, 
and  Thrones,  is  the  hierarchy  of  Assistance.  It  repre¬ 
sents  God  in  His  intimate  perfections  ;  ardent  love,  living 
light,  inalterable  holiness.* 

The  second  hierarchy,  composed  of  Dominations,  of 
Virtues,  and  of  Powers,  is  the  hierarchy  of  Empire.  It 
represents  God  in  His  sovereignty  and  creatures  ;  power 
without  limit,  irresistible  force,  immutable  justice. f 

The  third  hierarchy  is  composed  of  Principalities,  of 
Archangels  and  of  Angels,  and  is  the  hierarchy  of  Exe¬ 
cution.  It  represents  God  in  His  outward  action  ;  wise 
government,  sublime  revelation,  constant  manifestation  of 

goodness. J 

This  distinction  of  hierarchies  exists  from  origin.  In 
creating  us  God  acted  forseeing  what  was  to  be.  He  al¬ 
ready  gave  to  the  hierarchies,  to  the  choirs,  to  the  differ- 

*  Dionysius  considering  the  proprieties  of  the  orders  from  their  name,  placed 
those  orders  in  the  first  hierarchy  whose  names  are  given  them  from  their  rela¬ 
tion  to  God,  the  Seraphim,  Cherubim,  and  Thrones.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  108,  art.  6.) 

f  He  placed  those  orders  in  the  middle  hierarchy  whose  names  designate  a 
certain  common  government  or  disposition,  i.  e.,  Dominations,  Virtues,  and  Pow¬ 
ers.  (St.  Thomas,  Ibid.) 

Î  He  placed  those  orders  in  the  third  hierarchy  whose  names  designate  execu¬ 
tion  of  work,  i.  e.,  Principalities,  Archangels  and  Angels.  (St.  Thomas,  Ibid.) 


190 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


enfc  grades,  to  individual  spirits,  the  qualities  and  the 
privileges  which  they  were  to  need,  in  the  sequel,  to 
fulfil  the  respective  missions  to  which  they  were  pre¬ 
destined.* 

The  spirits  of  one  superior  hierarchy  are  not  ordinarily 
charged  with  the  functions  of  an  inferior  one  ;  but  they  can 
be  by  way  of  exception,  in  circumstances  of  solemnity. 

The  spirits  of  the  first  hierarchy  and  those  of  the  sec¬ 
ond  are  in  no  way  charged  with  the  details  of  God’s 
providence  :  they  will,  however,  be  sent  on  earth  ;  they 
will  appear  at  Bethlehem,  in  the  desert,  at  Gethsemane, 
on  Calvary,  at  the  sepulchre,  at  the  ascension  of  our  Lord, 
at  the  assumption  of  Mary  ;  they  will  come  down,  and  at 
the  last  day  will  accompany  the  Sovereign  Judge. f  / 

It  is  true  that  in  these  circumstances  they  will  have  as 
their  object,  to  honor  their  King  made  man,  duties  that 
attach  to  their  ordinary  mission.  But  it  is  also  true  that 
they  will  obtain  for  men  precious  favors,  and  that  it  will 
be  their  pleasure  to  concur  in  this  way  in  the  great  work 
of  their  salvation. $ 

Such  is  the  most  elevated  organization  of  the  spiritual 
world.  Such  are  its  general  outlines. 

Everything  comes  from  God,  and  descends  to  man  to 
remount  to  God.  In  man  and  for  man  is  to  be  prolonged 
and  extended  that  magnificent  transmission  of  what  is 
sacred  and  sanctifying. 

*  Since  tbe  angels  were  created  at  the  same  time,  they  had  this  distinction  in 
the  first  instant.  (Suarez,  1. 1,  c.  14,  n.  16.) 

f  In  some,  so  to  speak,  public  and  solemn  occasions,  it  does  not  seem  to  be 
denied  that  that  even  the  highest  angels  have  descended  or  will  descend  upon 
earth.  (Suarez,  1.  6,  c.  10,  n.  17.) 

Î  Nevertheless  even  in  these  missions  they  not  so  much  minister  exteriorly  as 
assist  Christ,  by  praising  and  honoring  Him  by  their  presence  ;  although  they 
must  needs  do  something  external,  when  they  work  visibly.  (Ibid.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


191 


YIIL 

THE  CHOIRS. 

The  nine  choirs  of  pure  spirits,  descending  from  those 
of  most  elevated  position  to  the  lowest,  are  the  Seraphim, 
the  Cherubim,  the  Thrones,  the  Dominations,  the  Virtues, 
the  Powers,  the  Principalities,  the  Archangels,  the  An¬ 
gels.  The  existence  of  these  nine  choirs,  in  three  hier¬ 
archies,  is  for  man  an  article  of  faith.* 

The  divine  perfections  impressed  upon  the  nine  choirs 
according  to  nine  different  manners,  are  the  principle  of 
their  distinction,  and  of  their  respective  greatness.  They 
are  themselves  the  living  manifestation,  outwardly,  of 
these  perfections. 

The  privilege  of  a  choir  is  always  contained  in  that  a 
choir  superior  to  it,  but  never  in  that  of  one  inferior. 
The  Seraphim  have  all  the  science  of  the  Cherubim,  but 
the  Cherubim  have  not  all  the  love  of  the  Seraphim.  The 
Dominations  have  all  the  strength  of  the  Virtues,  but  the 
Virtues  have  not  all  the  empire  of  the  Dominations. 

Did  we  represent  by  colors  the  perfections  of  the 
choirs  that  distinguish  them,  we  should  say  :  There  is  one 
color  in  the  Angel,  two  in  the  Archangel,  three  in  the 
Principalities,  and  so  on  to  the  Seraphim,  in  whom  there 
are  nine.  The  perfection  a  choir  has  in  excess  of  the 

*  It  is  of  faith  that  there  are  nine  choirs  or  orders  forming  three  hierarchies 
however  they  be  arranged.  (Suarez,  1.  2,  c.  13,  n.  2.)- 


l 


192 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


choir  immediately  below  it,  is  always  that  by  which  it  is 
distinguished  and  designated. 

These  distinctions,  like  those  of  the  hierarchies,  date 
from  our  creation  ;*  they  will  be  preserved  even  after 
the  last  judgment.!  Produced  by  nature  and  grace,  they 
will  appear  even  in  glory. 

When  the  church  on  earth  considers  a  function,  a  priv¬ 
ilege,  or  a  virtue  in  pure  spirits,  she  designates  it  often 
by  the  name  of  the  choir  which  it  marks,  or  of  all  the 
choirs,  of  a  particular  spirit.  Thus  she  says  :  The  an¬ 
gelic  Powers,  the  celestial  Virtues,  the  divine  Principali¬ 
ties  ;  or  again:  a  Principality,  a  heavenly  Virtue,  an 
angelic  Power. 

The  spirits  are  not  equal  in  number  in  each  choir. 
Those  of  the  highest  choirs  are  the  most  numerous,!  be¬ 
cause  they  must  reproduce  more  vividly  and  more  exten¬ 
sively  the  divine  perfections. 

*  Arranged  in  dignities,  from  the  beginning  standing  in  their  order.  (St. 
Bernard,  Consid.,  1.  5,  c.  4.) 

t  The  execution  of  angelic  offices  in  some  manner  will  remain  after  the  day 
of  judgment,  and  in  some  manner  will  cease.  It  will  cease  as  regards  their  duty 
of  leading  some  to  their  end  ;  it  will  remain  however  as  regards  the  ultimate 
attainment  of  the  end.  (St.  Thomas,  i,  q.  108,  art.  7.) 

I  It  is  probable  that  the  more  perfect  an  order  is,  the  greater  it  is  in  number, 
according  to  the  given  rule,  that  in  things  intended  by  God  of  themselves,  the 
more  perfect  exceed  by  magnitude  or  multitude.  (Suarez,  1.  1,  c.  11,  n.  8.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


193 


* 


IX. 

THE  REVIEW. 

Come,  0  man,  assist  at  the  review  of  the  armies  of  the 
Lord;  come,  scale  that  height;  embrace,  with  a  look, 
ethereal  space.  See  that  immense  plain  ;  ’tis  there  the 
spectacle,  to  which  I  bear  you  company,  is  going  to  take 
place. 

You  will  hear  the  Most  High  call  in  succession  each 
of  the  nine  choirs,  congratulate  each  on  its  beautiful  con¬ 
duct,  confirm  it  in  its  mission,  confide  to  it  the  honor  of 
outwardly  representing  one  of  the  divine  attributes,*  an¬ 
nounce  to  it  the  allies  it  will  find  among  men. 

You  will  see  each  choir  advance  in  magnificent  order, 
approach  the  throne  where  the  Most  High  is  seated,  and 
receive  from  His  hand  a  rich  banner.  In  the  centre  of 
this  banner  sparkles  one  of  the  nine  gems  that  fell  from 
the  breast  of  Lucifer.  You  will  read  there  the  legend 
and  the  emblem  of  the  spirits  it  distinguishes. 

Each  choir,  in  passing,  shines  with  a  new  glory,  is 
thrilled  with  a  new  happiness,  exerts  around  it  an  influ¬ 
ence  full  of  delight,  and  in  an  harmonious  canticle 
breathes  forth  its  zeal  and  its  gratitude. 

Pay  attention  to  the  details  ;  engrave  on  your  memory 
these  scenes,  and  you  will  never  be  in  danger  of  con¬ 
founding  the  various  bodies  of  the  divine  army.  Each 

•  Angels  in  many  ways  manifest  God’s  secret  way.  (Tertull.,  De  Orat.,  c.  12.) 


194 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


will  appear  to  you,  hereafter,  with  its  attributions,  its 
own  glory,  its  functions,  its  mission. 

The  great  army  will  ever  remain  present  to  your 
thought,  in  its  vast  entirety,  in  its  ravishing  variety. 
You  will  be  able  to  glory  in  knowing  it  as  much  as  it  can 
he  known  on  earth. 

This  knowledge  will  not  remain  merely  speculative;  it 
will  cause  salutary  movements  in  your  heart,  and  will 
give  rise  to  fertile  reflection. 

Each  one  of  the  elect  is  to  he  one  day  incorporated  in 
one  of  the  nine  choirs.  As  they  are  passing,  you  will 
examine  which  is  the  one  to  which  your  virtues  liken  you, 
that  which  will  consent  to  look  upon  you  as  an  ally,  and 
will  open  to  you  its  ranks. 

When  the  review  shall  have  ended,  perhaps  you  will 
feel  yourself  humbled,  confounded,,  in  seeing  yourself 
left  to  one  side.  Take  care  not  to  be  discouraged.  Grace 
has  not  been  taken  away  from  you.  With  it,  what  may 
you  not  do  ? 

God  is  more  perfect  than  the  angels  ;  He  is  sovereign 
perfection.  His  Incarnate  Son  will  nevertheless  say  to 
men,  one  day  :  “  Be  ye  perfect  as  your  heavenly  Father  is 
perfect.”* 

One  can  still  imitate  Him  whom  he  does  not  hope  to 
equal. f 

But  the  call  of  the  nine  choirs  begins  already  :  hearken 
to  the  voice  of  the  Most  High  ! 

*  Walt.,  c.  5,  v.  48. 

f  The  word  as  signifies  similitude,  not  equality;  for  we  cannot  equal  God’s 
perfection;  that  exceeds  ours  iufiuitely,  and  transcends  it;  wherefore  we  are  to 
imitate  it  at  a  distance,  as  well  as  we  can.  (Corn.,  a  Lap.,  on  this  passage.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


195 


X. 

THE  SERAPHIM. 

“  Spirits  of  the  first  choir,  I  have  chosen-  you  to  rep¬ 
resent  me  in  my  Love.*  You  shall  be  the  image  of  the 
substantial  and  personal  love  which  unites  in  the  Trinity 
the  Father  and  the  Son.  My  Spirit  Himself  will  love  in 
you,  and  by  you,  and  you  will  be  the  most  faithful  rep¬ 
resentative  of  the  heart  of  your  God. 

“In  virtue  of  the  mission  I  give'  you,  be  ardor  and 
flame  ;  burn  and  permeate  with  fire  ;  carry,  spread  that 
fire  kindled  from  eternity,  and  nourishing  itself  with  ali¬ 
ment  immortal. 

“  Extend  your  wings  over  the  spiritual  world,  and  like 
my  Spirit  brooding  over  the  waters,  drive  away  inac¬ 
tivity  and  death  ;  make  the  germs  of  my  grace  bud,  and 
produce  in  hearts  the  riches  and  beauties  of  spring. 

“  In  memory  of  the  love  that  you  opposed  to  the  hate 
of  Lucifer,  and  to  accomplish  the  mission  I  give  you,  you 
will  be  the  source  of  living  and  life-giving  fire  ;  you  will 
be,  and  be  called  Seraphim. f 

“Human  souls  will  rival  you  in  love,  and  will  be 
worthy  to  take  a  place  in  your  ranks. 

“  Is  there  a  greater  mark  of  love  than  to  give  one’s 

*  One  can  see  in  those  called  Seraphim,  how  He  loves.  (St.  Bern.,  Consid.,  1. 
5,  c.  4.) 

f  They  are  called  Seraphim,  as  if  fires  burning  or  inflaming,  because  by  in¬ 
flaming  is  wont  to  be  designated  intensity  of  love  or  desire  which  regards  the 
end.  (St.  Thomas,  Against  the  Gentiles,  1.  3,  c.  80.) 


« 


196  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

life  for  the  one  who  is  loved  ?  Souls  will  have  a  love 
like  that,  and  will  merit  the  aureola  of  bearing  testimony 
to  it. 

“  The  Seraphim  of  earth  will  rival  those  of  heaven,  and 
you  will  see  what  love  a  human  heart  can  contain. 

“Chained  in  perishable  bodies,  Seraphim  of  heaven, 
what  more  could  you  do  than  my  martyrs  ?  * 

“I  reserve  to  myself  to  tell  you,  at  the  last  day,  by 
whom,  of  souls  or  of  angels,  the  most  perfect  act  of  love 
will  have  been  performed.” 

And  from  the  hand  of  the  Most  High  the  Seraphim 
receive  a  banner,  having  engraved  on  a  sardonyx  a  focus 
whence  issue  flames,  with  the  word:  Love! 

And  while  through  the  empyrean  file  the  elite  of  the 
armies  of  God,  all  the  choirs  feel  themselves  enveloped 
by  a  more  penetrating  atmosphere  ;  and  the  Seraphim 
sing  : 

“  In  heaven,  on  earth,  even  in  hell,  is  not  all  a  work 
of  love  ? 

“  With  its  richness  and  its  beauties,  its  wonders  of  na¬ 
ture  and  its  mysteries  of  grace,  the  earth  is  the  work  of 
prevening  love. 

“  With  its  splendor  and  its  magnificence,  its  sweetness 
and  its  delights,  heaven  is  the  work  of  love  well  harbored. 

“With  its  flames  and  its  torments,  its  malediction  and 
its  despair,  hell  is  the  work  of  love  not  heeded. 

“Ye  beings,  whether  living  or  inanimate,  sublime  in¬ 
telligences,  grains  of  dust,  all  equally  coming  from  the 
loving  heart  of  our  God,  never  forget  your  origin  ;  mount 

*  Hear  what  Christ  says:  I  have  come  to  send  fire  upon  the  earth,  and  what 
will  I  but  that  it  be  kindled?  He  wishes  therefore  the  Seraphim  to  be  made. 
(St.  Bernard,  Serra,  i,  De  Verb.  Isaiæ.) 


/ 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  I97 

without  ceasing  to  your  beginning  :  Love!  love  Him  who 
loves  you! 

“  And  if,  one  day,  the  love  of  creatures  should  chance 
to  miss  its  way,  and  attach  itself  to  you  and  take  you 
for  its  object,  hasten  to  correct  its  error  and  show  it  its 
way. 

“  To  the  Creator  alone  belongs  the  love  of  His  crea¬ 
ture!  To  the  Author  of  all  good  alone  never-ending 
thanksgiving,  and  immortal  love!  ” 


1 


198  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


XI. 

THE  CHERUBIM. 

/  y  '  '  ' 

“  Spirits  of  the  second  choir,  I  have  chosen  you  to 
represent  me  in  my  Light.* 

“  You  shall  be  the  image  of  substantial  and  personal 
wisdom,  produced  by  the  knowledge  I  have  of  Myself, 
which  is  my  Son.  My  co-eternal  Son  will  know  in  you 
and  by  you,  and  you  shall  thus  be  the  highest  represen¬ 
tatives  of  uncreated  wisdom. 

* 

“  In  virtue  of  the  mission  I  give  you,  he  brilliant 
flames  and  living  light.  As  globes  of  pure  crystal,  be 
penetrated,  filled  with  divine  light,  and  appear  trans¬ 
formed  in  it. 

u  Mirrors  reflecting,  produce  and  send  hack  ravishing 
reflections  ;  dissipate  the  shadows  ;  eclipse  the  false  glare 
of  the  meteors  of  night.  Let  there  be  light  ;  let  it  be 
separated  from  darkness  ;  let  the  true  day  dawn  ;  and 
let  the  rays  of  divine  intelligence  shine  through  your  in¬ 
telligence. 

“  In  memory  of  the  light  that  Scattered  the  darkness 
massed  up  by  Lucifer,  and  to  accomplish  your  mission,  be 
the  created  images  of  the  uncreated  Word  ;  be  lights. 
Be,  and  so  call  yourselves,  Cherubim. f 

*  One  can  see  in  the  Cherubim  that  God  is  the  Lord  of  knowledge.  (St.  Bern., 
Cousid.,  1.  5,  c.  4.) 

j-  These  are  called  Cherubim,  which  is  interpreted  plenitude  of  science;  science 
is  perfected  by  the  form  of  that  which  can  be  known,  i.  e.,  by  having  in  our 
mind  what  is  the  essence  of  the  object.  (St.  Thomas,  Against  the  Gentiles ,  1. 3,  c.  80.) 


( 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  199 

“  Souls  will  bo  met,  friends  of  the  same  light,  passion¬ 
ately  devoted  to  sacred  science,  torches  illumining  the 
Holy  Church. 

“  They  will  be  your  associates,  and  their  brow  will 
shine  in  your  ranks  with  the  halo  of  the  Doctor.  Their 
glorious  pleiad  shall  be  one  day  your  most  grateful  im¬ 
age  on  earth. 

“  On  their  wings,  as  on  yours,  I  shall  be  borne  through 
the  schools  of  learning,  to  the  midst  of  councils,  and  I 
will  take  my  place  with  Peter  or  with  Leo,  on  the  golden 
candlestick  where  the  sacred  light  is  never  to  be  ob¬ 
scured.” 

And  from  the  hand  of  the  Most  High  the  Cherubim 
received  a  banner,  having  engraved  upon  a  topaz  a  torch 
with  rays,  with  the  word:  Light! 

As  the  Cherubim  file  past,  the  heavenly  choirs  are 
penetrated  with  new  rays;  what  has  hitherto  remained 
hidden,  unfolds  itself  to  their  eyes  ;  their  knowledge  ex¬ 
pands,  grows  larger,  and  the  Cherubim  sing: 

u  Lights  that  are  borrowed,  intelligences  created,  never 
separate  yourselves  from  the  divine  centre  whence  you 
have  sprung. 

Exalt  the  light  of  the  Word;  attach  yourselves  to 
that  as  to  your  vital  element. 

“  Without  this  all  brilliancy  degenerates  and  goes  out; 
without  it  light  itself  becomes  darkness  ;  the  bearer  of 
day  becomes  the  bearer  of  night,  and  he  who  was  Lucifer 
becomes  but  the  Herald  of  Night. 

u  Of  what  title,  of  what  privilege,  could  we  ever  be 
ambitious,  more  noble,  mor  'glorious,  than  that  of  being 
the  descendant  of  the  Divine  Word  and  His  posterity!” 


! 


200  MÊMOIUS  OF  A  S  EE  APE. 


XII. 

✓  # 

THE  THRONES. 

✓ 

“  Spirits  of  the  third  choir,  I  have  chosen  you  to  re¬ 
present  me  in  my  holiness.* 

“  Holiness  is  a  mystery  of  my  inmost  life  not  less  es¬ 
sential  to  my  nature  than  the  generation  of  my  Son  or 
the  procession  of  my  Spirit. 

“  Holiness  is  conformity  with  the  eternal  law.  It  is 
the  respect  for  that  law;  it  is  the  love  of  it.f  It  is  rec¬ 
titude  or  equity  by  excellence. p 

u  I  love  to  see  my  holiness  reproduced  and  preserved 
in  creatures. 

“  In  aspiring  to  my  power  and  to  my  greatness,  angel 
and  man  cannot  but  fail.  Holiness  alone  raises  up  all, 
ennobles  all,  unites  all  with  me. 

“  In  you  and  by  you  I  will  manifest  it,  and  demand  it 
of  creatures.  Your  choirs  shall  be  the  tribunal  from 
which  I  shall  proclaim  the  first  and  the  most  inviolable 
of  my  rights.  You  shall  be  the  thrones  upon  which  I 
shall  take  my  seat  to  pronounce  judgment. 

“  Y^ou  will  repeat  to  the  universe  my  eternal  protest 

*  One  can  see  in  the  Thrones  how  holy  is  the  Judge  who  sits.  (St.  Bern., 
Consid.,  1.  5,  c.  4.) 

f  He  is  called  holy  whose  affections  and  morals  agree  with  the  eternal  law. 
This  happens  in  creatures  accidentally,  but  it  is  eseential  to  God.  (Corn,  a  Lap., 
On  EcclesiaJicus,  c.  46,  v.  6.) 

{It  is  called  equity  or  rectitude,  because  its  norma  and  rule  is  conformable 
to  the  eternal  and  divine  law,  and  is  therefore  right,  not  bad,  or  oblique,  or 
distorted.  (Corn,  a  Lap,  On  the  Prov.,  c.  1,  v.  3.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  201 

against  confusion,  in  the  conscience,  of  virtue  and  vice, 
of  what  is  just  and  of  what  is  unjust. 

“  In  memory  of  your  firmness  in  keeping  separate 
good  and  evil,  in  the  day  when  Lucifer  strove  to  con¬ 
found  them,  you  shall  be  the  personification  of  my  im- 
perscriptible  equity,  and  you  shall  have  the  name  of 
Thrones.* 

“  You  will  have  for  associates,  among  men,  those  who 
received  the  mission  to  pronounce  my  judgment  in  the 
assembly  of  the  faithful,  and  who  will  daily  bear  in  their 
hands,  and  in  their  heart,  my  Incarnate  Word. 

“You  will  have  souls  distinguished  by  eminent  purity, 
those  who  will  preserve  their  innocence,  especially  those 
who  will  render  themselves  worthy  of  the  sweet  aureola 
of  virginity,  and  who  will  shine  among  you  as  thrones  of 
spotless  ivory. 

“  You  will  be  yourselves  the  associates  of  the  soul  who 
will  eclipse  you  all  by  her  elevation  above  all  that  is  of 
earth ,f  and  will  offer  to  the  Word  His  first  and  most 
beautiful  throne  in  time.  You  will  be  the  associates  of 
the  Virgin  Mary,  of  the  Mother  of  God.” 

And  from  the  hand  of  the  Most  High  the  Thrones  re¬ 
ceive  a  banner,  having  engraved  on  jasper  an  elevated 
chair,  with  the  word:  Holiness! 

And  the  Thrones,  in  filing  past,  awaken  in  hearts  a 
greater  admiration  for  the  holiness  of  God,  and  a  greater 
zeal  to  reproduce  it  ;  and  they  sing  : 

f  By  this  name  they  are  designated  as  “bearers  of  God,”  and  familiarly 
adapted  for  all  divine  influence.  (St.  Thomas,  Against  the  Gentiles ,  1,  3,  c.  80.) 

t  He  is  called  âyioç,  as  if  without  earth.  Purity  is  necessary  that  the  mind 
may  be  applied  to  God  :  for  the  human  mind  is  soiled  by  contact  with  inferior 
things,  just  as  everything  becomes  deteriorated  by  being  mixed  with  what  is 
lower,  as  silver  with  lead.  (St.  Thomas,  2 a  2 ae,  q.  81,  art.  8.) 


202 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


“  Holy  !  Holy  !  Holy  !  Lord!  God  of  Armies.  He  is 
just  and  His  judgments  are  equitable. 

u  Guilty  is  he  who  fails  in  holiness  ;  a  thousand  times 
criminal  is  the  one  who  proclaims  harmless  the  violations 
of  divine  law. 

“The  earth  is  full  of  iniquitous  judgment;  but  the 
Lord  will  rise  up,  and  those  who  will  have  judged  against 
the  right  shall  grow  pale.  He  has  judged  the  Angels  ; 
He  is  going  to  judge  men;  and  He  will  judge  anew  men 
and  Angels,  at  the  last  day. 

“  No  good  work  will  remain  unjustified  ;  no  evil  un¬ 
condemned.  Disorder  will  not  last  for  eternity.  Eternity 
is  the  reign  and  the  triumph  of  all  holiness  and  of  all 
right,  because  it  is  the  reign  of  God.” 

The  Seraphim,  the  Cherubim,  and  the  Thrones,  forming 
the  hierarchy  of  assistance,  have  come  to  range  them¬ 
selves  around  the  Most  High.  They  will  be  nearest 
Him,  and  His  most  intimate  confidants. 

The  Most  High  continues. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


203 


xin. 

THE  DOMINATIONS. 

“Spirits  of  the  fourth  choir,  I  have  chosen  you  to 
represent  me  in  my  Empire.* 

“  This  absolute  empire,  the  sovereign  domain  over 
creatures,  is  a  special  character  of  my  divinity.  It  is  the 
appanage  of  the  first  and  perfect  Beings  who  having  no 
one  above  Him  bears  in  His  essence  the  reason  of  His 
supreme  domination.  It  has  pleased  me  to  personify  it 
in  one  of  my  highest  choirs. 

“  In  you  and  by  you,  humble  and  docile  Spirits,  I  will 
cause  to  appear,  and  I  will  exercise  an  empire  which 
has  no  limit  in  intensity,  or  in  extent,  or  in  duration. 
The  free  will  of  creatures  shall  never  destroy  it,  for  it 
must  always  recognize  and  adore  it. 

“  In  memory  of  the  zeal  of  the  heavenly  army  to  sub¬ 
ject  everything  to  my  domination,  at  the  time  of  the  re 
volt,  when  the  cry  of  independence  was  raised,  you  will 
have  for  your  mission  to  establish  and  maintain  every¬ 
where  this  empire  which  proceeds  with  force  and  mild¬ 
ness,  ennobles  what  it  reaches,  imparts  an  admirable 
peace  to  the  heart,  and  your  n§me  shall  be  :  Domina¬ 
tions 

*  One  can  see  in  the  Dominations  how  great  God’s  majesty  is.  (St.  Bern 
Co  sid.,  1.  5,  c.  4  ) 

f  The  name  Dominations  I  consider  to  signify  a  certain  absolute  domination, 
always  seeking  the  principle  of  Domination,  and  which  is  above  all  servitude, 
and  superior  to  all  direction.  (St.  Denys  De  Cœlesti  Hierarch,  c.  8.) 


i 


204 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


“You  will  have  for  associates,  among  men,  those  who 
will  have  shown  themselves  the  most  humble  and  the  most 
zealous,  those  who  will  study  to  submit  to  the  divine  will 
all  the  movements  of  nature,  those  who  will  indicate  with 
energy  the  sacred  rights  of  my  Christ  and  of  His 
church.”  ) 

And  from  the  hand  of  the  Most  High  the  Dominations 
receive  a  banner,  having  engraved  on  a  chrysolite  a  scep¬ 
tre,  with  the  word  :  Empire.  ' 

In  filing  past,  the  Dominations  see  all  the  choirs  how 
more  deeply  and  with  more  love.  But,  freeing  them¬ 
selves  from  them  and  giving  back  to  God  alone  all  the 
homage  of  their  inferiors,  they  sing: 

44  The  proud  one  hath  said:  let  every  sign  of  Domina¬ 
tion  disappear  in  heaven  and  on  earth  ! 

44  Go  then,  proud  nothingness,  go  ;  put  out  that  sun, 
through  which  the  glory  of  the  great  Ruler  shines  forth. 

44  Detach  one  by  one  those  stars,  which  He  suspended 
there  on  high  to  tell  His  praise  Î 

44  Stop  the  course  of  those  rivers  which  murmur  as  they 
flow  the  blessings  of  Him  who  embellished  their  banks  ! 

44  Lower  those  mountains  and  those  hills  which  bear 
too  visibly  the  impress  of  the  Hand  which  rounded  them  Î 
44  Go  finally,  go,  and,  at  every  step,  bend  down  before 
the  flower  of  the  field,  to  efface  the  beautiful  Name  which 
coming  into  life  it  carries  written  in  its  fresh  corolla  ! 

44  Or  rather,  prostate  thyself,  weak  creature,  before  the 
powerful  Hand  that  drew  thee  forth  from  nothing  !  Sub¬ 
mit,  frail  grass  !  haughty  cedar,  submit  !  In  this  grain  of 
sand  He  places  on  thy  shore,  respect,  0  sea,  the  sacred 
harrier  ! 

44  And  thou,  0  heart  of  man,  accept  with  thanksgiving 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


205 


our  empire  which  the  inanimate  creatures  acknowledge, 
and  which  thou,  like  ourselves,  hast  the  happiness  to  know. 

“  Willingly,  or  by  three,  every  one  among  Angels  and 
among  men  shall  he  subjected.  But  happy  those  who 
will  anticipate  the  strength  that  shatters,  yielding  to  the 
sweetness  that  attracts  !  ” 


» 


206 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


XIV. 


THE  VIRTUES. 


“  Spirits  of  the  fifth  choir,  I  have  chosen  you  to  rep¬ 
resent  file  in  my  Force.* 

“My  force  never  acts  but  partially.  For  want  of  an 
object  it  could  not  he  exercised.  Even  by  the  creation 
of  worlds,  an  operation  that  cannot  be  communicated  to 
the  most  perfect  of  creatures,  it  has  not  been  revealed  in 
it§  plentitude. 

“To  carry  the  universe  on  three  fingers,  and  main¬ 
tain  the  laws  that  regulate  it  ;  to  change  all  at  once  these 
laws  or  suspend  their  effects  ;  to  transform  elements,  and 
disturb  their  accord  ;  to  dissolve  the  terrestrial  globe, 
and  confound  its  atoms  and  reproduce  chaos  ;  that  is  what 
in  my  own  good  time  I  will  bring  to  pass  in  you  and  by 
you. 


“  By  you  I  will  communicate  to  intelligent  creatures  a 
more  excellent  force,  moral  force,  supernatural,  which 
violence  and  seduction  will  find  equally  invincible. 

“  In  memory  of  the  strength  developed  by  the  heavenly 
army,  in  the  struggle  in  which  the  bad  angels  were  over¬ 
thrown,  you  will  have,  as  a  mission,  to  exercise  in  the 
world  of  spirits  and  in  that  of  bodies  an  action  which  will 
cause  my  infinite  force  to  be  appreciated.  You  shall  be 


*  One  can  see  in  the  Virtues  that  everywhere  one  power  is  equally  at  work. 
(St.  Bernard,  Consid.,  1.  5,  c.  4.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  207 

the  right  hand  of  the  Most  High,  and  you  shall  call  your¬ 
selves:  Virtues .*  ' 

“  You  will  have  for  associates,  among  men,  hearts  of 
heroic  patience,  those  that  not  threats,  nor  treason,  nor 
cruelty  nor  pain,  nor  prolonged  death  can  overcome.” 

And  from  the  hands  of  the  Most  High  the  Virtues  re¬ 
ceive  a  banner,  having  engraved  upon  an  onyx  an  immov¬ 
able  column,  with  the  word  :  Force  ! 

As  the  Virtues  file  past,  all  the  choirs  feel  themselves 
strengthened  and  filled  with  a  new  force,  and  the  Virtues 
sing  : 

“  Nothing  is  strong  but  in  God  and  by  Him.  He, 
alone,  overthrows  all,  with  a  breath,  and  with  a  breath 
raises  all  up  again. 

“  I  will  keep  Him  from  passing  !  blasphemously  cries 
the  impious  man  ;  I  will  stop  Him  in  His  way,  and  par¬ 
alyze  His  action  ! 

“But  He  said  to  the  lightning  :  Go,  and  on  thy  wings 
of  red  darts  bear  my  vengeance  ! 

“  If  He  says  to  the  tempest  :  Encircle  the  guilty,  and 
from  the  east  to  the  west,  from  the  north  to  the  south, 
carry  the  dust  of  their  bones  crushed  by  thy  breath  ! 

“  If  He  says  to  the  earth  :  Open,  and  upon  their  head 
close  thy  yawning  gulfs  ! 

“Weak  worm,  what  wilt  thou  oppose  to  these  messen¬ 
gers  of  divine  force  ? 

“  Divine  force  !  We  wished  to  make  it  clear  to  the 
sight,  and  lo  !  we  are  veiling  it. 

“  The  thunder  has  rolled  in  the  heavens,  but  God  does 


*  The  appellation  of  Virtues  denotes  a  certain  virility  extending  itself  into  tho 
deiform  operations.  (St.  Denys,  De  Cœlesti  Heir.,  c.  8.) 


208 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


not  stand  in  need  of  a  heaven  filled  with  muttering  thun¬ 
der. 

“  The  tempest  roars,  hut  God  does  not  stand  in  need 
of  the  roaring  of  the  tempest. 

“  The  earth  has  trembled,  and  yawned,  but  God  does 
not  stand  in  need  of  the  yawning  gulfs  of  earth. 

“  A  light  breath  has  passed  :  the  force  of  God  was  in 
that  breath. 

“  Look  !  Where  is  the  atom  in  revolt  ?  Where  is  it  ? 
Even  the  trace  of  it  has  disappeared.” 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


209 


XT. 

THE  POWERS. 

“  Spirits  of  the  sixth  choir,  I  have  chosen  you  to 
represent  me  in  my  Justice.* 

“  My  justice  is  without  measure,  as  is  my  mercy.  It 
equals  my  horror  for  evil. 

“Vainly  does  a  creature  shut  his  eyes  not  to  see  it. 
It  exists,  this  sovereign  justice,  and  its  reign  will  be  with¬ 
out  end. 

“  In  you  and  by  you,  I  will  exercise  it  over  the  de¬ 
mons.  In  your  hands  shall  be  placed  the  sword  which  is 
to  transfix  them,  the  scourge  which  is  to  chastise  them,  the 
hammer  which  is  to  crush  them,  the  lightning  by  which 
they  are  to  be  stricken. 

“  You  will  chain,  during  time,  the  power  to  hurt  left  to 
the  evil  spirits,  making  them  respect  the  limits  fixed  by 
my  Providence,  watching  that  for  man  trial  may  not  be¬ 
come  oppression.! 

“  In  memory  of  the  justice  that  animated  the  army  of 
heaven  when  it  drove  into  hell  the  bad  angels,  your  mis¬ 
sion  shall  be  to  proclaim  my  justice  and  exercise  it 
throughout  time.  Clothed  with  this  high  function,  you 
will  call  yourselves:  Powers. f 

*  One  can  see  how  powerfully  in  the  Powers  He  protects  those  He  rules,  keep¬ 
ing  away  and  driving  off  contrary  Powers.  (St.  Bei  nard,  On  Consid.,  1.  5,  c.  4.) 

f  The  angels  of  heaven  are  placed  over  the  powers  of  the  air.  (St.  Aug.,  on 
Ps.  103.) 

Î  We  think  the  Powers  are  those  by  whose  strength  the  powers  of  darkness 


210 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


“  You  will  have  as  associates,  among  men,  not  only  those 
who  will  receive  from  my  church  power  to  cast  out  de¬ 
mons,  the  exorcists,  but  also  all  those  who  will  wage  in¬ 
cessant  war  against  Satan,  keeping  him  far  from  souls, 
banishing  him  to  arid  places,  thrusting  him  into  the 
abyss.” 

And  from  the  hand  of  the  Most  High,  the  Powers  re¬ 
ceive  a  banner,  having  engraved  upon  a  beryl  a  flaming 
sword,  with  the  word:  Justice. 

And,  as  they  file  past,  the  Powers  renew  in  the  choirs 
the  indignation  and  zeal  that  burst  forth  at  the  time  of 
the  first  combat.  Seeing  them  from  the  depth  of  his 
•darkness,  the  infernal  dragon  understands  the  new  pun¬ 
ishment  reserved  for  him,  and  roars  with  fright,  and  the 
Powers  sing  : 

“  Sword  of  divine  justice,  what  a  blow  hast  thou 
struck  !  The  threshold  of  the  happy  city  was  a  witness 
of  it,  and  eternity  resounds  with  it. 

“Thou  hast  remained  in  our  hands,  0  redoubtable 
sword,  and  it  is  under  thy  protection  the  universe  reposes 
in  peace.  Face  to  face  with  the  eternal  enemy  of  God, 
of  angels,  and  of  men,  there  is  in  all  hearts  confidence 
unshaken. 

“Thou  art  light  to  the  Powers,  O  beneficent  sword, 
and  to  them  the  sight  of  thee  is  sweet  ;  for  it  is  by  thee 
the  glory  of  God  flashes  forth,  that  the  work  of  man’s 
salvation  is  wrought,  that  the  memory  of  great  fidelity  is 
perpetuated. 

“The  sword  of  divine  justice  is  to  be  in  our  hands  till 

are  held  in  check,  and  the  malignity  of  the  air  is  counteracted,  that  it  may  not 
hurt  as  much  as  it  would,  nor  be  able  to  do  harm  save  for  good  purpose.  (St. 
Bernard,  on  Consid.,  1,  5,  c.  4. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


211 


the  day  when  it  will  be  replaced  by  the  key  of  the  abyss 
shut  and  sealed  over  the  head  of  the  last  of  the  lost.” 

The  Dominations,  the  Virtues,  and  the  Powers,  form¬ 
ing  the  hierarchy  of  Empire,  are  placed  next  the  first 
hierarchy  around  the  throne  of  God.  They  will  have 
the  general  direction  and  the  high  command  of  the  *  ex¬ 
terior  work  of  God. 

Addressing  Himself  to  third  hierarchy,  the  Most  High 
continued  His  call,  and  the  review  of  the  celestial  armies. 


212 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


XVI. 

THE  PRINCIPALITIES. 

“  Spirits  of  the  seventh  choir,  I  have  chosen  you  to 
represent  me  in  my  Government.* 

“  I  wish  through  you  to  give  to  earth  and  to  time  a  re¬ 
flex  of  the  order  resplendent  in  heaven  and  in  eternity. 
You  yourselves  shall  be  the  pages  of  the  perfect  code 
upon  which  rests  all  order  and  all  law. 

“  In  you  and  by  you  I  will  direct  nations  and  peoples  ; 
I  shall  make  them  live  in  that  subordination  of  will,  in 
that  honorable  obedience,  which  an  authority  marked 
with  the  divine  seal  alone  obtains. 

“  In  memory  of  the  order  that  reigned  in  my  armies 
in  the  day  when  they  first  deployed,  and  which  secured 
them  the  victory,  your  mission  shall  be  to  promote  order 
among  intelligent  creatures.  You  will  maintain  it  in 
human  society,  and  you  will  be  honored  with  the  name  : 
Principalities .*(■ 

u  You  will  have  as  associates,  on  earth,  kings,  princes, 
chiefs,  legislators,  founders,  who,  understanding  their 
mission,  will  in  my  name  govern  society,  and  direct  it  to 
its  end.” 

*  One  can  see  in  the  Principalities  the  principle  from  which  all  things  com»,  and 
that  the  universe  is  sustained  by  it  as  the  door  by  the  hinge.  (St.  Bernard,  Ibid.) 

t  The  name  Principality  denotes  a  certain  dominion  with  «acred  order.  (St. 
Denys,  De  Celesti  Hierarch c.  8.)  In  human  things  there  is  a  certain  common 
good,  which  is  the  good  of  the  State  or  people,  which  appears  to  pertain  to  the 
order  of  Principalities.  (Si.  Thomas,  Against  the  Gentiles ,  1.  3,  c.  80.) 


\ 


I 


MEMOIRS  OF  À  SERAPH.  213 

And  from  the  hands  of  the  Most  High  the  Principal¬ 
ities  receive  a  banner  bearing  engraved  on  a  sapphire  a 
sacred  code,  with  the  wTord  :  Government. 

As  they  file  past  in  wonderful  order,  the  Principalities 
ravish  the  look  of  the  heavenly  army.  They  carry  in 
their  hearts  the  sweet  joy  that  comes  from  the  agree¬ 
ment  of  the  parts  of  a  beautiful  wrhole,and  they  sing: 

“  As  the  action  of  atom  on  atom,  the  authority  of  man 
over  man  will  descend  from  God. 

“Drawn  from  other  source,  it  will  in  vain  deck  itself 
with  specious  appearances,  it  will  be  but  usurpation  and 
tyranny. 

“The  divine  law  coordinates  the  moral  world  as  well 
as  it  does  the  physical  world. 

“  It  alone  produces  in  the  globes  of  the  firmament  at¬ 
traction,  movement,  harmony.  .  , 

“  It  alone  regulates  in  social  life  relations,  union,  lib¬ 
erty. 

“It  is  the  life  and  honor  of  angelic  society  ;  it  will  be 
the  honor  and  the  life  of  all  human  society. 

“  0,  beautiful  order  of  heaven,  when  will  it  be  given 
us  to  reproduce  it  on  earth  and  flourish  in  that  clime  ?” 


214 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  ' 


XVII. 

THE  ARCHANGELS. 

f  • 

“  Spirits  of  the  eighth  choir,  I  have  chosen  you  to 
represent  me  in  my  Revelations.* 

“You  shall  be  the  depositaries  of  my  secrets,  the  or¬ 
gans  of  my  thith,  the  heads  of  my  embassies. 

“  In  you  and  by  you  I  will  speak  to  men  to  announce 
to  them  my  law,  instruct  them  regarding  my  will,  address 
them  my  promises  and  my  threats. 

“  In  memory  of  the  joyous  transports  with  which  the 
angelic  army  received  those  first  revelations  which  Luci¬ 
fer  rejected,  you  will  have  as  a  mission  to  be  my  heralds 
in  time. 

“You  will  share  these  functions  and  this  honor  with 
the  Incarnate  Word,  the  great  Revealer  of  eternal 
secrets.  You  will  be  messengers  by  excellence,  and  will 
style  yourselves: Archangels. \ 

“You  will  have  as  associates,  among  men,  the  inter¬ 
preters  of  my  will  :  the  prophets  announcing  with  author¬ 
ity  the  oracles  they  will  have  received  of  you  ;  the  apos¬ 
tles,  reëchoing  the  voice  of  my  Christ,  publishing  the 

*  Finally,  one  can  see  in  the  angels  and  archangels  the  truth  and  experience 
of  the  expression;  for  He  has  care  of  us:  Who  never  ceases  to  rejoice  us  with 
the  visits  of  such  and  so  great  ones,  to  instruct  us  by  their  revelations,  admonish 
us  by  their  suggestions,  console  us  by  their  assiduity.  (St.  Bernard, on  Consid., 
1,  5,  c.  4. 

f  We  believe  that  archangels  are  over  angels,  and,  aware  of  the  divine  myste¬ 
ries,  are  sent  only  on  special  and  very  great  missions.  (St.  Bernard,  Ibid.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPE.  215 

good  news,  establishing  in  hearts  the  kingdom  of  my 
grace.” 

And  from  the  hands  of  the  Most  High  the  Archangels 
receive  a  banner,  having  engraved  on  a  carbuncle  a  sound- 
ing  trumpet,  with  the  word  :  Revelation. 

As  the  Archangels  file  past,  they  make  us  hear  the 
accents  the  church  of  earth  one  day  will  understand. 
The  Archangels  sing  : 

“  The  secrets  of  goodness,  as  those  of  justice,  repose 
in  the  bosom  of  God. 

“  Outside  of  the  celestial  revelations,  what  will  the 
earth  ever  know  ? 

“  What  authority  will  be  capable  of  teaching  man  his 
end  and  the  way  to  it  ? 

“  Let  those  who  pretend  to  knowledge  of  the  Divinity 
be  silent:  everywhere  around  Him  will  darkness  of 
night  reign  ;  everywhere  the  shadow  of  death. 

“  From  eternity  alone  springs  the  light  that  is  to  illume 
man’s  journey  to  eternity. 

“  As  long  as  a  voice  from  the  divine  depths  will  not 
reach  him,  will  he  be  able  without  fright  to  interrogate 
the  past  ?  fathom  the  future  ? 

“  May  the  moments  be  blessed  when  it  pleased  God  to 
reveal  in  time  the  secrets  of  eternity  I 

“  The  view  that  will  open  for  him  on  these  vast  hori¬ 
zons,  will  always  be  salutary  for  man. 

“  0,  earth  !  give  ear  to  the  voice  of  the  divine  am¬ 
bassadors.  Leap  with  joy,  when  they  come  announcing 
justice  !  exult  when  they  herald  mercy  ! 

“  Deceive  with  love  the  word  of  God  :  despised,  it  rises 
to  its  source  and  gives  place  to  darts  of  vengeance  ;  ac¬ 
cepted  in  a  docile  heart,  it  begets  there  salvation.” 


216 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


xvm. 


THE  ANGELS. 

“  Spirits  of  the  ninth  choir,  I  have  chosen  you  to 
represent  me  in  my  goodness. 

“  To  you  it  is  given  to  spread  around  the  treasures  of 
my  tenderness. 

“  The  humblest  creature  is  dear  to  me.  All  that  goes 
forth  from  my  hands  is  embellished  with  my  love.  . 
When  my  will  meets  with  no  obstacle,  my  goodness  nat¬ 
urally  pours  itself  forth  and  reaches  all  beings. 

“  Among  my  attributes,  I  am  most  pleased  to  manifest 
my  goodness. 

“  In  you  and  by  you  I  will  love  the  souls  of  men.  I 
will  treat  them  with  delicacy  and  sweetness.  I  will  sur¬ 
round  them  with  care  and  solicitude,  and  I  will  keep  them 
in  the  way  that  is  to  lead  them  to  my  bosom. 

u  When  I  announced  the  creation  of  man,  Liicifer 
refused  to  have  them  for  his  brethren  and  to  dwelk. 
with  them  in  the  same  city.  He  pretended  to  the  right  \ 
of  dominion  over  them,  and  wished  to  have  them  as  J 
slaves. 

“  In  memory  of  the  tenderness  that  the  faithful  spirits 
then  manifested,  vour  mission  shall  be  to  be  with  men  the 
living  organs  of  my  goodness. 

“  In  the  divine  hierarchy,  each  order  has  the  mission 
to  transmit  my  treasures  to  the  order  below  it  ;  men 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  217 

shall  be  for  you  as  a  tenth  order,  whom  you  will  enrich 
with  heavenly  gifts.* 

“  In  you  and  by  you  I  shall  be  constantly  with  them, 
to  protect  them  from  peril,  to  aid  them  in  strife,  to  secure 
them  a  triumph.  You  shall  be  their  friends,  their  guar¬ 
dians,  my  envoys  daily  and  at  every  moment,  and  you 
shall  be  called:  Angels. 

“  You  will  have  as  associates,  among  men,  the  legions 
of  loving  hearts  which  will  charm  you  by  their  zeal  for 
the  education  of  infancy,  the  forming  of  youth,  the  con¬ 
solation  of  the  miserable,  and  the  relief  of  the  infirmities 
of  all  ages. 

“  You  will  have  fathers  and  mothers,  by  faithfulness  to 
their  mission,  the  visible  angels  of  their  children. 

“  You  will  have  children,  blessed  of  God,  in  their 
turn  the  providence  and  the  good  angels  of  their  aged 
parents.” 

And  from  the  hand  of  the  Most  High  the  Angels  re¬ 
ceive  a  banner  having  engraved  upon  an  emerald  a  vigi¬ 
lant  eye,  with  the  word  :  Goodness. 

“  As  they  file  past,  the  Angels  are  resplendent  with 
that  noble  and  tender  sweetness  which  is  their  proper 
charm.  They  cast  upon  us  their  soothing  rays,  and 
sing  : 

“  Amiable  condescension  !  touching  goodness  !  He  has 
bethought  Him  of  us  !  He  has  looked  upon  us  and 
loved  us  !  He  has  chosen  us,  and  prepared  for  us  a 
place  in  His  paradise. 

“  He  has  remembered  the  humblest  soul,  and  has  offered 


*  The  angel-guardian  has  over  him  superior  angels  by  whom  he  is  enlightened  ; 
he  has  not  under  him  interior  angels  whom  he  illumines;  but  what  he  cannot 
do  for  other  angels,  he  does  for  the  man  committed  to  him.  (Vivien,  Angelus.) 


218 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


her  a  throne.  He  fears  she  may  allow  herself  to  be  mis¬ 
led,  that  she  may  be  lost,  and  to  shield  her  weakness  He 
sends  her  a  prince  of  His  court. 

“  In  making  us  the  instruments  of  Thy  bounty,  to¬ 
wards  souls,  0  God  !  what  a  place  Thou  givest  us  in  Thy 
bosom  and  Thy  works  ! 

“  0  soul,  our  sister,  we  love  you  as  He  has  loved  you. 
Correspond  with  His  tenderness  and  with  ours.  See  His 
look  always  upon  you  ;  and  see  upon  you  also  the  eyes 
of  your  well-beloved  brothers.” 

The  Principalities,  the  Archangels,  and  the  Angels, 
forming  the  hierarchy  of  Execution,  are  placed  after  the 
other  two  hierarchies,  surrounding  with  them  the  divine 
throne.  These  three  choirs  will  be  the  immediate  agents 
of  the  Most  High  in  the  accomplishment  of  His  orders 
externally,  and  in  His  providential  government. 


/ 

M 

•  S 

\  ■  v 


t 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


219 


XIX. 

GOD  IX  ALL. 

In  virtue  of  the  missions  entrusted  us  by  God,  we 
have  become  the  instruments  of  the  action  of  God  exter¬ 
nally,  the  organs  of  His  providence,  the  blossoming  of 
His  attributes  in  time. 

The  soul  united  to  the  body  sees  with  the  eyes,  hears 
with  the  ears,  scents  with  the  smell,  tastes  with  the  pal¬ 
ate,  touches  with  each  member.* 

In  like  manner  God,  always  indivisible  and  ever  sim¬ 
ple,  loves  in  the  Seraphim,  knows  in  the  Cherubim, 
judges  in  the  Thrones,  commands  in  the  Dominations, 
works  in  the  Virtues,  protects  in  the  Powers,  governs  in 
the  Principalities,  illumes  in  the  Archangels,  assists  in 
the  Angels. f 

God  is  wholly  in  all,  and  in  each  one.  Each  one  is 
the  burning  and  living  bush,  in  the  midst  of  which  we 
hear  the  divine  accents. 

But  here  the  poor  language  of  men  has  only  the  same 
word  to  express  things  of  the  most  varying  character. 
Of  God  as  of  the  Seraph  we  must  say  :  He  loves  ;  of 
God  as  of  the  Cherub,  He  knows;  of  God  as  of  any 
other  choir,  He  works  in  such  a  manner. 

*  As  the  soul  sees  in  the  eyes,  hears  in  the  ears,  smells  by  the  nostrils,  tastes 
with  the  palate,  touches  with  the  whole  body.  (St.  Bernard,  Consid.,  1.  5,  c.  5.) 

t  Thus  God  works  differently  in  different  spirits,  e.  g.  showing  Himself  as  lov¬ 
ing  in  some,  knowing  in  others,  doing  other  things  in  others,  as  to  each  one  is 
given  the  manifestation  of  the'  spirit  for  usefulness.  (Ibid.) 


220  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

Can  we  compare  operations  of  which  the  one  are  as 
high  above  the  other  as  the  heavens  are  over  the  earth  ? 

How  does  God  work?  As  the  absolute  and  perfect 
good,  always  ready  to  pour  itself  out.  He  loves  as 
charity,  knows  as  truth,  judges  as  equity,  rules  as  ma¬ 
jesty,  works  as  virtue,  protects  as  safety,  governs  as  prin¬ 
ciple,  reveals  as  light,  aids  as  tenderness.* 

We  perform  these  same  operations,  but  in  a  very  dif¬ 
ferent  manner.  These  operations  are  not  the  production 
of  what  is  in  us;  they  result  from  the  divine  principle 
which  it  is  given  us  to  share. f 

*  We  are  said  to  love  ;  also  God  :  we  are  said  to  know  ;  God  too.  And  piany 
things  in  this  way.  But  God  loves  as  charity,  knows  as  truth,  presides  as  eqhity, 
rules  as  majesty,  sustains  as  principle,  protects  as  safety,  reveals  as  light,  assists 
as  pity.  (Ibid.) 

t  What  the  angels  do  we  also  do,  but  in  a  far  inferior  mauner,  not  by  reason 
of  the  good  that  we  are,  but  that  we  share.  (Ibid.) 


-a 


i 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


221 


XX. 

THE  COMMANDER  OE  GOD’S  ARMY. 

The  review  of  the  nine  choirs  is  over.  Each  has  been 
confirmed  in  its  mission  and  has  received  its  banner. 

At  the  head  of  this  brilliant  army,  it  is  the  will  of  the 
Most  High  to  place  a  chieftain  worthy  of  it. 

The  army  knows  already  the  one  chosen  of  divine  con¬ 
fidence  ;  it  has  heard  his  voice  ;  it  has  received  his 
orders  ;  it  has  been  accustomed  to  obey  him  ;  under  his 
leadership  it  gained  the  most  complete  victory  ;  it  owes 
to  him  its  glory;  it  loves  him,  wishes  him,  calls  for  him. 

“  Go  then  faithful  servant  ;  go  noble  defender  of  my 
rights;  go  my  hero;  march  at  the  head  of  these  nine 
corps,  continue  to  fight,  with  them,  an  enemy  whose  hate 
and  malice  you  know.  Under  these  banners,  which  I 
confide  to  you,  there  will  never  be  weakness,  and  no 
glory  will  eclipse  their  glory. 

“You  will  represent  me  not  only  among  the  angels, 
but  also  with  men.  I  name  you  the  head  of  my  people. 

“  You  will  direct  this  people  of  believers,  the  deposi¬ 
tory  of  my  revelation  and  of  my  law.  In  their  ear  will 
your  voice  resound,  to  their  eyes  will  your  redoubtable 
sword  flash.  You  will  conduct  them  in  turn,  and  accord¬ 
ing  as  they  deserve,  by  love  and  by  fear,  by  recompense 
and  by  chastisement,  by  success  and  by  adversity. 

“  When  my  word  will  become  Flesh,  you  shall  become 
the  Angel  of  the  new  people  whom  I  will  give  Him,  and 


/ 


222  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

who  will  be  the  holy  ones  of  my  Church.  Upon  this 
people  will  you  concentrate  your  zeal  and  your  love.  In 
your  conduct  towards  the  Christian  people,  I  shall  recog¬ 
nize  your  devotion  to  my  Christ.* 

“You  will  have  as  adversaries  His  adversaries,  the 
anti  Christs.  The  anti-Christ  of  the  last  days,  he  who 
is  to  sum  up  in  himself  the  wickedness  of  all  the  others, 
to  whom  Satan  himself  will  come  to  inspire  and  direct, 
will  furnish  the  occasion  of  the  final  victory. 

“  In  the  battles  you  will  fight  for  my  glory,  you  will 
hold  the  place  of  my  word,  you  will  act  as  He  would, 
and, of  you,  as  of  Him,  will  it  be  said:  what  audacity 
will  strive  to  affright  Him  If 

“  By  your  ministry  you  will  inspire  the  sinner  with 
full  confidence. 

“As  to  the  omnipotent  God  and  to  the  Blessed  Virgin 
Mary,  you  will  see  him  bow  down  to  you,  confess  him¬ 
self  guilty,  beat  his  breast,  implore  your  intercession  to 
obtain  indulgence  and  mercy. :f 

“  In  recompense  for  the  zeal  which  you  will  manifest 
in  favor  of  my  elect,  I  reserve  for  you  the  most  honor¬ 
able  of  missions,  that  of  being  my  representative  on  the 
threshold  of  eternity,  to  receive  there,  in  my  name,  the 
souls  of  men. || 

*  Michael,  as  once  of  the  Synagogue,  so  now  the  head  and  guardian  of  the 
whole  church,  is  religiously  honored  by  the  faithful.  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  On  Daniel, 
c.  10.) 

f  Wisdom,  c.  6,  v.  8. 

î  I  confess  to  Almighty  God,  the  Blessed  Mary  ever  Virgin,  the  Blessed  Mich¬ 
ael  the  archangel,  &c. 

||  May  Thy  standard-bearer,  St.  Michael,  present  them  in  the  holy  light.  (The 
Liturgy  :  Offertory  of  the  Mass  for  the  Dead.)  In  fact  and  in  name,  Michael,  I  pray 
thee,  and  as  far  as  I  can,  call  upon  thee  to  appear  joyful  and  peaceful  as  I  shall 
be  leaving  this  world,  and  hide  me  under  the  honored  veil  of  thy  wings,  and 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


223 


“Each  one  on  entering  will  bow  before  your  sceptre  : 
his  heart  jubilant  if  one  of  your  host  ;  lost,  confounded 
if  of  the  hostile  camp.” 

“  You  will  conduct  them  before  my  tribunal,  and  you 
will  have  come  thither  their  guardian  angels  to  bear  wit¬ 
ness  of  what  they  may  deserve. 

u  At  the  last  day  you  will  take  part  in  my  most  sol¬ 
emn  acts.  When  I  shall  come  to  judge,  you  shall  bear 
before  me  the  cross,  my  royal  standard.* * 

“  In  eternity  as  in  time,  you  will  be  the  first  of  my 
angels,  and  you  will  not  cease  to  bless  me  with  those  you 
preserved  to  my  love. 

“  Go,  therefore,  show7  yourself  through  the  generations 
of  men,  erect,  your  wdngs  spread,  your  eye  calm,  your 
forehead  high,  holding  in  one  hand  a  sword,  in  the  other 
the  scales,  trampling  under  foot  the  dragon,  and  utter¬ 
ing  the  cry  of  victory.” 

And  the  glorious  St.  Michael  goes  to  take  his  place  at 
the  head  of  the  great  army,  over  this  immense  people;  he 
casts  a  glance  at  once  calm  and  full  of  power,  while  from 
all  the  ranks  there  goes  up  the  same  cry  :  “  Who  is  like 
unto  God?  ”f 

Age  will  tell  to  age  His  great  deeds,  and  each  will 
proclaim  Him  the  zealous  seeker  of  God’s  glory,  the  dé¬ 

placé  me  freed  from  the  narrow  and  dark  places  of  hell,  in  the  beautiful  taber¬ 
nacle,  leading  me  to  the  dwelling  of  God,  in  the  voice  of  exultation,  of  confession, 
and  of  festive  celebration.  (S.  Sophronius,  Encom.  Aug.) 

*  Michael  is  called  the  standard-bearer  because  he  carries  before  Christ  com¬ 
ing  to  judgment,  the  banner  or  standard.  (Eckius,  Horn,  on  St.  M,chael.) 

*  That  there  are  two  Michaels,  one  the  Seraph,  the  conqueror  of  Lucifer,  the 
other  the  Archangel,  guardian  of  the  Church,  is  asserted  without  authority. 
(Corn,  a  Lap.,  On  c.  10,  Daniel.)  As  therefore  Lucifer  -with  the  demons,  so  Mich¬ 
ael,  acting  for  God,  is  the  commander  of  the  angels  and  the  first  among  the  Ser¬ 
aphim.  (Id.,  Ibid.) 


224 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


fender  of  the  Incarnate  >Word,  the  chief  of  the  good 
angels,  the  conqueror  of  the  demons,  the  protector  of 
Holy  Church.* 

*  St.  Michael  is  the  vindicator  of  divine  majesty,  the  defender  of  the  Incarnate 
Word,  the  one  who  triumphed  with  the  good  angels,  finally  the  protector  of  the 
church.  (Yiven,  On  St.  Michael.)  The  worker  of  God’s  victory.  (Tertull.,  On 
Patience.  The  column  of  the  Holy,  Apostolic  Church.  (S.  Pantalo.) 


End  of  Vol.  I 


/ 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH  • 


3from  tbe  Jfrencb  of 


M.  L’Abbé  G.  Chardon,  Vicar- General  of  Clermont } 

Author  of  the  Memoirs  of  a  Guardian  Angel. 


/ 


Voi.  ir. 


BALTIMORE: 

PUBLISHED  BY  JOHN  MURPHY  &  CO., 

Printers  to  His  Holiness  the  Pope, 

1888. 


V 


Copyright,  18S8. 

By  John  Murphy  &  Co. 
All  rights  reserved. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


BOOK  THE  FIFTH. 


THE  RELATIONS  OF  THE  ANGELS  WITH 
THE  WORD  INCARNATE. 


I. 

EXPECTATION. 

To  the  Eternal  Son  of  God,  to  the  Word  Incarnate, 
to  the  King  of  Angels,  to  the  Redeemer  of  man,  bless¬ 
ings  the  most  heartfelt,  adoration  the  most  profound  ! 

He  will  be  the  head  of  the  mystic  body  of  which  the 
angels  and  men  are  to  be  the  members.  He  will  be  the 
source  of  action  to  all,  will  make  all  live  with  His  life, 
shine  with  his  light.* 

From  the  first  instant  of  our  trial  we  knew  the  future 
incarnation  of  the  Word,f  but  we  could  not  foresee  that 
it  would  take  place  for  the  redemption  of  man.  We  did 
not  know  in  any  way  whether  man  would  fall.  Adam, 

*  The  mystic  body  of  the  church  consists  not  only  of  men  but  also  of  angels. 
Of  all  this  multitude  Christ  is  the  head.  (St.  Thomas,  3,  q.  8,  art.  4.) 

+  0f  the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation  we  speak  in  a  two  fold  manner.  In  a 
general  way  first;  and  in  this  manner  it  was  revealed  to  all  the  angels  from  the 
beginning  of  their  beatitude.  The  reason  of  which  is;  because  this  is  a  certain 
general  principle  in  accordance  with  which  all  their  duties  are  regulated.  (St. 
Thomas,  1,  q.  57,  art.  5.) 


3 


4 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


in  innocence,  knew  it  as  we,  but,- like  us,  he  was  ignorant 
of  its  cause.* 

We  know  causes  in  their  effects,  in  the  order  of  nature, 
but  not  in  the  mysteries  of  grace. 

It  was  revealed  to  us  that  we  were  to  form  a  court  of 
honor  for  the  Christ,  that  we  should  be  His  ministers, 
that  we  should  defend  His  glory,  that  above  His  head  we 
were  not  to  cease  ascending  and  descending.!  Sublime 
vocation,  that  awakened  in  us  at  once  an  ardor  full  of  de¬ 
light. 

When  we  saw  Lucifer  refuse  to  pay  homage  to  Christ, 
attack  His  work,  constitute  himself  His  adversary,  we 
fought  for  our  Chief,  and  Christ  had  in  us  the  army  of 
His  avengers.  We  conceived  for  Him  a  love  which  was 
to  grow  through  the  ages  and  dominate  the  hatred  of 
Satan, 

The  relations  so  beautiful,  so  constant,  so  intimate, 
which  we  shall  have  with  Him,  will  be  for  us  a  signal 
honor  and  a  subject  of  eternal  gratitude. 

We  were  awaiting  the  coming  of  the  Redeemer,  we 
were  calling  Him  by  our  earnest  desires  ;  but  these  were 
not  marked  by  any  impatience.  They  were  never,  like 
those  of  the  Patriarchs,  accompanied  by  sadness.  Our 
sympathy  for  fallen  humanity  never  altered  the  calm 
which  a  happy  eternity  secures  us. 

Although  more  enlightened  than  men,  we  did  not  know 
how  the  great  mystery  was  to  be  brought  about.  We 

*  The  mystery  of  the  Incarnation  could  have  been  made  known  to  man  with¬ 
out  his  being  previously  informed  of  his  fall  ;  for  not  every  one  who  knows  the 
effect  knows  also  the  cause.  (St.  Thomas,  3,  q.  1,  art.  3.) 

t  St.  John,  c.  1,  v,  51.  • 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  5 

were  ignorant  of  the  circumstances  of  time,  place,  per¬ 
sons,  in  which  the  Divine  Word  would  appear.* 

We  formed  on  this  point  a  thousand  conjectures.  We 
brought  together  the  traces  of  it  scattered  through  the 
history  of  humanity  ;  we  tried  to  make  out  of  them  a 
complete  type  ;  but  no  type  appeared  worthy  of  a  God 
made  man. 

We  asked  ourselves  how  a  divine  and  a  human  nature 

i 

could  be  united  in  one  and  the  same  person  ;  how  har¬ 
mony  between  the  two  wills  could  be  established,  be 
maintained  ;  how  possibility  and  impossibility  could  co¬ 
exist  without  mutually  destroying  each  other  ;  how  the 
acts  in  which  humanity  participated  would  be  neverthe¬ 
less  divine  acts  ;  how,  in  a  word,  the  finite  and  the  in¬ 
finite  could  agree  together  in  so  intimate  an  alliance. 

We  put  these  questions  to  ourselves,  not  to  make  them 
an  object  of  doubt,  but  to  admire  the  mercy  which  in¬ 
spired  such  prodigies,  and  the  power  that  was  to  work 
them. 

We  tried  to  discover  what  could  be  the  appearance  of 
God  in  flesh. 

In  what  corner  of  the  universe  will  be  taken  the  grains 
of  dust  to  form  His  body  ?  What  will  be  His  features  ? 
What  His  bearing  ?  Will  His  eyes  shed  tears  ?  Will 
His  lips  smile  ?  Will  His  look  tell  of  blessings  ?  What 
perfections  will  dominate  in  Him  ? 

The  innocence  of  Adam,  the  simplicity  of  Abel,  the 
fidelity  of  Abraham,  the  beauty  of  Joseph,  the  zeal  of 

*  In  another  way  we  can  speak  of  the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation,  as  regards 
its  special  conditions;  and  in  this  respect  not  all  the  angels  were  taught  every¬ 
thing  from  the  beginning  ;  indeed  some  things  even  the  higher  angels  learned 
afterward.  (St.  Thomas,  1,  q.  57,  art.  5.) 


6 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


David,  the  wisdom  of  Solomon,  the  lights  of.  the  Pro¬ 
phets,  the  justice  of  the  Patriarchs,  nothing  sufficed  for 
our  ideal,  and  our  ideal  was  to  be  so  far  from  the  truth  ! 

The  Incarnate  Word  will  have  the  mildness  of  the  lamb, 
and  we  shall  see  in  Him  the  strength  of  the  lion  ;  He 
will  appear  subject  to  every  creature,  and  He  will  be  the 
judge  of  the  living  and  of  the  dead  ;  He  will  take  upon 
Himself  the  conditions  of  a  weak  nature,  and  He  will 
continue  to  be  the  regulator  of  worlds.  Mysterious  and 
touching  contrasts,  which  shall  be  the  object  of  our  eter¬ 
nal  admiration! 

As  we  advanced  toward  the  desired  term,  our  knowl¬ 
edge  became  more  complete.  Charged  to  communicate 
to  man  the  divine  revelations,  we  were  the  first  informed.* 

*  Our  glorious  fathers  obtained  the  divine  visions  by  means  of  the  Virtues 
(St.  Denys,  The  Divine  Hierarchy,  c.  4.)  Illuminations  and  divine  revelations 
are  brought  to  men  by  means  of  the  angels.  (St.  Thomas,  2,  2  q.  172,  art.  2.) 


7 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

•s 


n. 

THE  PRECURSORS. 

During  the  ages  which  preceded  the  Redemption  -we 
never  ceased  to  bear  to  man  the  messages  of  the  Divine 
Word.  We  would  come  into  the  valley  of  tears  to  im¬ 
part  encouragement  and  multiply  consolation.* * * § 

With  elements  chosen  in  nature  we  would  form  bodies 
and  clothe  ourselves  with  them  to  appear  to  men  and 
speak  to  them.f 

These  bodies  were  not  simple  appearances,  they  were 
true  bodies  ;  but  they  did  not  enter  into  our  personality, 
and  were  no  part  of  us  ;  they  wrere  not  united  to  us  as 
the  human  body  is  united  to  the  soul  ;  in  a  word,  we  did 
not  become  incarnate  in  them,  and  thev  were  not  our 
bodies. J  In  combining,  with  heavenly  art,  light  and 
color,  we  would  give  them  the  form  we  desired.  With¬ 
out  communicating  to  them  any  of  the  qualities  of  glori¬ 
ous  bodies, ||  we  would  crown  them  with  majesty  and 
grace.  We  produced  in  them  wonders  of  look,  gesture, 
attitude,  carriage,  and  voice.  We  made  use  of  them  as 
intermediaries  to  render  ourselves  visible  to  patriarchs  and 
prophets.  § 

*  The  gospel  begins  by  embassies  from  above  ;  who  dictated  it  first  were  angels. 
(St.  Cyprian.) 

f  It  is  very  probable  that  the  angels  took  to  themselves  bodies  of  purer  elements 
which  are  found  in  upper  air.  (Suarez,  1.  4,  c.  34,  n.  7.) 

J  There  is  no  substantial  union  between  the  angel  and  the  body  assumed. 
(Suarez,  1.  4,  c.  30,  n.  2.) 

||Bodies  assumed  do  not  have  the  properties  of  glory.  (Suarez,  1. 6,  c.  17,  n.  15.) 

§  The  angels  do  not  need  an  assumed  body  on  account  of  themselves,  but  on 
account  of  us,  that  conversing  familiarly  with  men,  they  may  show  forth  tho 


8 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


By  frequent  apparitions,  we  accustomed  men  to  the  de¬ 
scent  of  the  inhabitants  of  heaven  on  earth,  and  prepared 
them  for  the  coming  of  the  Son  of  God  in  the  flesh.* 

It  was  a  great  honor  for  us  to  be  the  precursors  of  the 
Word;  hut  it  was  a  still  greater  honor  to  fulfill  our  mis¬ 
sion  in  the  name  of  God. 

Instead  of  speaking  in  our  own  name,  we  made  God 
speak  in  us;  we  lent  Him  our  voice  ;  we  said:  “I  am 
the  Lori,  your  God.  It  is  I,  the  Lord  your  God,  who 
speak  to  you.”  Was  there  ever  a  more  divine  part?f 
All  the  ancient  comings  of  God  among  men  were  real¬ 
ized  through  our  ministry .J 

It  was  the  voice  of  an  angel  that  cried  to  Adam  in  Par¬ 
adise  :  u  Adam,  where  art  thou  ?  ”  the  voice  of  an  angel 
which  said  to  the  serpent  :  u  I  will  place  enmity  between 
thee  and  the  woman  ;  ”  the  voice  of  an  angel  which  said 
to  Cain  :  “  What  hast  thou  done  with  thy  brother?  ”  the 
voice  of  an  angel  that  said  to  Noah  :  “  I  will  make  my 
bow  appear  in  the  heavens; ”  the  voice  of  an  angel  which 
said,  at  the  sight  of  the  construction  of  Babel  :  “  Come, 
let  us  go  down  and  confound  them  ;  ”  the  voice  of  an 
angel  that  said  to  Abraham  :  “  I  will  give  thee  a  posterity 

visible  society  which  men  expect  to  have  with  them  in  the  future  life.  (St. 
Thomas,  1,  q.  51.  art.  2.) 

!|  That  angels  took  to  themselves  bodies  in  the  Old  Testament  was  a  certain 
indication,  figuratively,  that  the  word  of  God  was  to  take  human  nature  :  all 
apparitions  were  made  in  relation  to  that  apparition  by  which  the  Son  of  God 
appeared  in  the  flesh.  (St.  Thomas,  1,  q.  51,  art.  2.) 

f  Add  to  this,  that,  some  of  them  represented  His  person,  so  that  each  one  of 
them  spoke  not  as  an  angel,  but  as  the  Lord.  For  example,  the  angel  who  spoke 
with  Moses  said  not,  I  am  of  the  Lord,  but  I,  the  Lord,  and  frequently  repeated 
this.  (St.  Bernard,  Serm.,  54,  Cant,  of  Cant’s.) 

J  We  add,  moreover,  that  all  the  apparitions  of  God  in  the  Old  Testament,  al¬ 
though  there  be  no  mention  of  angels  made  in  them,  came  about  by  their  agency. 
(Suarez,  1.  6,  c.  20,  n.  36.)  (St.  Denys,  St.  Augustin,  St.  Thomas.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


9 


more  numerous  than  the  stars  of  heaven  ;  ”  the  voice  of 
an  angel  that  said  from  the  burning  bush:  “I  am  who 
am;”  the  voice  of  an  angel  that  dictated  on  the  sum¬ 
mit  of  Sinai  the  law  received  by  Moses.* 

By  our  exterior  and  actions  we  prefigured  the  Re¬ 
deemer  in  the  conditions  inwrhich  He  was  to  be,  with  the 
titles  He  was  to  unite  in  Himself. 

Guests  arrived  from  a  far-off  country,  we  received 
hospitality  as  He  is  to  receive  it,  and  like  Him,  brought 
benediction  to  those  who  entertained  us.f 

Warriors  armed  with  the  sword,  we  were  the  prelude 

to  the  battle  which  He  will  give  to  Satan,  without  truce, 

\ 

and  to  all  the  enemies  of  man.J 

Legislating  in  the  midst  of  the  lightning  of  Sinai,  we 
represented  the  author  of  the  law  of  grace,  attesting  its 
mission  by  prodigies,  and  giving  to  the  world  the  sacred 
code  of  the  Gospel. || 

Faithful  guides,  we  directed  in  their  way  the  people  of 
old,  as  Christ  will  go  before  the  new  people,  and  will 
lead  them  in  the  way  to  heaven. § 

Physicians  sent  to  console,  we  cured  the  bodies  as  He 
will  cure  souls,  delivering  them  from  their  infirmity,  and 
tearing  them  from  the  grasp  of  death. 

Friends  of  innocence,  we  preserved  it  in  the  flames, 
in  the  furnace  of  Babylon,  as  He  will  preserve  it  in  the 
midst  of  more  fearful  flames,  the  furnace  of  the  world.** 

*  Acts,  c.  7,  v.  55.  St.  Paul,  Gal.,  c.  3,  v.  19. 

f  Genesis,  c.  18. 

X  Josue,  c.  5. 

I  Exodus,  c.  19,  sqq. 

If  Exodus,  c.  13,  14. 

£  Tobias,  c.  11. 

**  Daniel,  c.  3. 


10 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


We  protected  it  in  the  den  of  lions,  as  He  will  protect  it 
in  the  haunts  of  beasts  still  more  cruel.* 

Charitable  purveyors,  we  procured  life-giving  nourish¬ 
ment,  figure  of  the  loaves  miraculously  multiplied,  and 
of  the  water  springing  forth  unto  eternal  life.f 

In  a  word,  in  our  apparitions,  our  words,  our  acts,  we 
were  constantly  the  figure  of  the  Saviour,  and  we  had 
constantly  the  same  desire  to  prepare  men  to  receive  Him, 
and  submit  to  His  law.J 

From  the  time  of  the  Incarnation,  it  is  through  us  the 
apparitions  of  the  Father  and  of  the  Holy  Ghost  occur, 
but  it  is  in  His  own  Person  that  Christ  appears. || 

*  Daniel,  c.  6. 

f  Exodus,  c.  16,  17. 

J  The  angels  that  led  the  children  of  Israel  through  the  desert,  appeared  to 
Abraham,  in  the  valley  of  Mambre,  to  Jacob  in  Bethel,  to  Moses  on  Mt.  Sinai,  to 
Josue  in  the  fields  of  Jericho,  were  a  figure  of  the  Messiah  to  come.  (Vivien, 
Angdus.) 

I  It  is  to  he  said,  that  all  these  apparitions  of  God  in  the  New  Testament  were 
by  means  of  Angels.  This  is  the  common  opinion  of  theologians.  (Suarez,  1.  6, 
c.  21,  n.  12.) 


1 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


11 


III. 

THE  EMBASSY. 

From  age  to  age  a  thousand  voices  had  cried:  “He 
will  come  ;  He  comes  !”  A  more  fortunate  voice  will 
say  :  “  Behold  Him!  ” 

To  pronounce  this  last  word  God  will  choose  neither 
a  prophet,  nor  a  patriarch,  nor  any  mortal.  Evil  began 
through  an  angel  ;  it  is  to  angels  the  Most  High  reserves 
the  consolation  of  negotiating  the  reparation  of  evil.* 

Among  the  blessed  spirits  around  the  throne  of  God, 
several  have  received  the  order  to  depart  and  go,  through 
the  stars,  to  the  globe  inhabited  by  men.  At  the  head 
of  that  embassy,  the  first  sent  to  a  creature  superior  to 
an  angel,  was  seen  a  spirit  of  an  elevated  order,  Gabriel, 
the  strength  of  God. 

The  bearer  of  the  great  secrets  of  eternity,  the  bril¬ 
liant  paranymph  took  the  livery  of  the  One  who  sent 
him  ;  he  clothed  himself  with  a  body  of  incomparable 
grace  and  beauty.f 

*  It  was  a  fit  beginning  of  human  restoration  that  an  Angel  should  be  sent  to 
a  Virgin  to  be  consecrated  by  a  divine  birth;  because  the  first  cause  of  human 
perdition  was  from  the  sending  of  a  serpent  by  the  devil  to  deceive  the  woman 
by  the  spirit  of  pride.  (Bede,  Horn.  On  the  Annunciation.)  It  was  becoming  that 
an  angel  should  be  the  minister  to  bring  about  the  salvation  of  man,  because  the 
bad  angel  was  the  author  of  his  ruin.  (Vivien,  Angelus.) 

f  The  paranymph,  made  joyful  by  his  otfice,  by  grace  exhilarated,  ready  by 
duty,  clad  with  unwonted  splendor,  in  human  form  descends  to  the  Virgin. 
(St.  Laur.  Justin,  On  the  Annunt.)  There  came  to  me  a  great  paranymph  of 
Christ,  not  the  first  patriarch,  not  a  remarkable  prophet,  but  the  Archangel 
Gabriel,  of  brilliant  countenance,  of  radiant  vesture,  of  admirable  bearing.  (St. 
Augt.,  Serm.  18,  De  Tempore.) 


12 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


Gabriel  directed  his  flight  neither  towards  Athens  the 
learned,  nor  toward  Rome  the  victorious,  nor  to  Babylon 
the  proud,  nor  to  Jerusalem  once  the  holy,  to-day  the 
faithless,  but  to  Nazareth  the  humble  and  the  unknown. 

The  brilliant  cortege  sang,  as  they  ascended,  the  heav¬ 
enly  alliance,  the  mysterious  union  which  is  to  join,  in 
the  Person  of  the  Word,  the  nature  of  God  with  that  of 
man. 

The  world,  plunged  in  matter  and  sense,  sees  nothing, 
hears  nothing,  is  witness  of  nothing.  It  has  not  even  a 
presentiment  of  the  incomparable  event  which  is  about  to 
take  place. 

The  embassy  reaches  the  oratory  of  Mary.  Gabriel 
only  appears.  He  speaks  not  to  command  as  a  master, 
but  to  propose  with  deference.  His  bearing  is  that  of  an 
inferior.  He  bows  his  head,  and  says  : 

“  Hail!  full  of  grace  :  the  Lord  is  with  thee  ;  blessed 
art  thou  among  women.” 

At  this  discourse  the  Virgin  is  astonished,  troubled, 
and  asks  what  it  means  ;  the  angel  reassures  her  : 

a  Fear  not,  Mary,  for  thou  hast  found  favor  with  God. 
Behold  !  thou  shalt  conceive  in  thy  womb,  and  thou  wilt 
bear  a  Son,  and  thou  shalt  call  His  name  Jesus.  He 
will  be  great,  and  will  be  called  the  Son  of  the  Most 
High.” 

Mary  asks  the  angel  how  can  such  a  wonderful  thing 
come  to  pass.  Thé  angel  replies  : 

“  The  Holy  Ghost  shall  come  upon  thee,  and  the  power 
of  the  Most  High  shall  overshadow  thee,  and  therefore 
the  Holy  One  who  will  be  born  of  thee  shall  be  called 
the  Son  of  God.” 

During  this  interview,  the  celestial  court  is  in  suspense. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  13 

He  who  speaks  in  the  name  of  all  is  impatient  to  receive 
the  desired  consent.  He  awaits  the  decisive  word  !  * 

At  length  Mary  says:  “Behold  the  handmaid  of  the 
Lord  ;  be  it  done  unto  me  according  to  His  word.”f 

In  the  heart  of  Gabriel,  and  in  all  our  hearts,  there  is 
indescribable  joy. 

The  alliance  is  concluded,  the  contract  signed,  the 
union  consummated,  our  mission  fulfilled.  We  prostrate 
ourselves,  and,  the  first,  adore  in  Mary  God  made  man. 

Those  angels  who  had  the  honor  to  take  part  in  this 
embassy  will  be  forever  glorified  in  heaven. 

Mary  will  always  see  in  Gabriel  the  one  who  an¬ 
nounced  to  her  her  greatness  ;  and  Jesus,  the  herald  of 
His  hypostatic  union. 

Whatever  will  recall  to  him  the  scene  of  the  annuncia¬ 
tion,  will  touch  his  heart  and  attract  his  good-will. 

When  man,  with  the  angel,  will  repeat  that  word  full 
of  melody  :  “  Hail  Mary,”  Mary  will  smile  on  him  with 
ineffable  sweetness. J 

Mary  will  always  make  a  return  to  her  children  for 
the  honor  they  paid  her. 

To  the  salutation  of  filial  piety,  will  answer  always  the 
word  of  motherly  tenderness. || 


*  The  whole  celestial  court  stood  awaiting  a  reply  :  they  eagerly  awaited  an 
answer.  The  angel  Gabriel,  the  orator  of  the  heavenly  spirits,  thirsted  with  the 
ardor  of  love  to  the  last  word  he  uttered.  (Virg.  Seldmayr,  Theolog.  Mariana.) 

f  St.  Luke,  c.  1,  v.  26-28. 

Î  That  sweet  angelic  melody,  by  far  the  most  celebrated,  which  the  Angel 
Gabriel  sang  at  Nazareth.  (St.  Ephrem.) 

||  When  man  devoutly  salutes  the  B.  Virgin,  he  is  saluted  in  turn  by  her.  For 
Mary  is  most  urbane,  nor  can  she  be  saluted  without  a  charming  return  of  salute. 
Wherefore  if  thou  sayest  a  thousand  Hail  Marys  a  day,  a  thousand  times  will 
Mary  return  the  salutation.  (St.  Bernardin  of  Siena.) 


/ 


14  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


IT. 

THE  NAME  OE  JESUS. 

Jesus!  Jesus!  It  was  not  the  lips  of  man  that  pro¬ 
nounced  for  the  first  time  this  beautiful  name.  It  was 

I  , 

not  even  the  lips  of  angels.  We  received  it  from  the 
mouth  of  the  Father,  whose  creation  and  masterpiece 
it  is.* 

m 

On  hearing  it,  we  were  filled  with  respect,  and  over¬ 
flowed  with  delight;  we  fell  in  adoration. 

The  infernal  spirits  were  seized  with  fear,  roared 
frightfully,  and  in  their  manner  bent  the  knee. 

Among  men  some  bent  the  knee  like  the  angels  with 
respect  and  love  ;  the  others,  like  the  devils,  with  rage 
and  spite. f 

The  name  of  Jehovah  carries  with  it  majesty;  it  is  the 
name  of  the  Creator,  of  the  Most  High,  of  the  All-power¬ 
ful,  of  the  Immense,  of  the  Eternal  ;  it  is  the  name  great 
and  terrible,  before  which  goes  fear.J 

In  the  name  reserved  for  the  Incarnate  Word  appear 
equally  grandeur  and  power,  but  tempered  with  goodness 
and  grace. || 

This  name  signifies  Saviour,  and  embraces  all  the 

*  St.  Paul,  Ep.  to  Philippians,  c.  2,  v.  9.  • 

f  St.  Paul,  Philippians,  c.  2,  v.  10. 

%  Exodus,  c.  15,  v.  3  ;  Judith,  c.  16,  v.  3  ;  Ps.  110,  v.  9. 

||  What  is  Jesus  hut  sovereign  majesty  and  sovereign  love  ?  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  On 
Philippians ,  c.  2.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  15 

economy  of  the  Redemption  ;  it  inspires  courage  and 
confidence.* 

Touching  mystery,  which  human  wisdom  declared  im¬ 
possible  !  in  this  name,  as  upon  a  throne  unique,  we  see 
majesty  and  love.f 

Brought  from  heaven  by  one  of  the  most  glorious 
spirits,  the  name  of  Jesus  was  received  by  the  most  per¬ 
fect  of  creatures,  who  was  herself  to  give  it  to  the  In¬ 
carnate  Word,  the  august  Mary. 

The  honor  of  angelic  language,  and  of  that  of  man, 
this  name  of  Divine  origin  will  be  incorporated  into  all 
the  idioms  of  the  world,  and  will  be  for  each  one  its  most 
beautiful  jewel. { 

No  name  richer,  of  wider  signification,  of  more  won¬ 
derful  virtue,  will  be  pronounced  in  heaven  or  on  earth. 
It  will  be  the  name  above  every  name,  bearing  in  it  salva¬ 
tion.  || 

It  belongs  to  men  even  more  than  to  angels,  for  it  is  men 
who  have  received  the  greater  part  of  the  treasures  wThich 
it  brings,  and  thus  in  their  language,  so  inferior  to  ours, 
they  rival  us  in  expressions  of  love  and  marks  of  respect. 

We  repeat  it;  we  meditate  it;  we  sing  it  to  the  ears 
of  souls,  and  we  admire  the  wonders  it  produces. 

At  this  sacred  name,  from  one  extremity  of  the  Holy 
Church  to  the  other  we  see  heads  bow,  hands  join,  and 
knees  bend.§ 

*  The  name  of  Jesus  signifies  the  whole  economy  of  the  Incarnation  and  Re¬ 
demption  of  Christ.  (Ibid.) 

t  Majesty  and  love  agree  not  well  together,  nor  hold  the  same  throne  in  har¬ 
mony. 

%  St.  Paul,  Philippians,  c.  2,  v.  11. 

||  St.  Paul,  Philippians,  c.  2,  v.  9. 

g  Hearing  the  name  of  Jesus,  devout  children  of  the  Church  bow  the  head  or 
genuflect.  (St.  John  d’  Avila.) 


36  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

At  this  sacred  name,  heaven  opens,  prayer  ascends, 
miracles  are  wrought,  sickness  is  healed,  tears  are  dried, 
hearts  converted,  demons  are  put  to  flight  ;  at  this  name, 
martyrs  triumph,  virtues  flourish,  souls  celebrate  their 
deliverance,  men  and  angels  unite  in  one  concert  of  bene¬ 
diction  and  of  thanksgiving. 

That  wanderer  on  earth  had  heard  our  conversation, 
spoke  the  same  language  as  we,  whose  heart  found  in¬ 
sipid  every  page  on  which  the  name  of  Jesus  was  not  to 
he  read,  without  life  every  discourse  in  which  that  name 
of  Jesus  was  not  pronounced,  and  who  exclaimed: 

“  Jesus,  melody  to  the  ear,  honey  to  the  mouth,  joy 
to  the  heart  !  Jesus  !  oil  that  illumes, -aliment  that  nour¬ 
ishes,  remedy  that  heals!  ”  * 

Was  he  a  man  or  was  he  an  angel,  who,  under  the  oaks 
and  beech  trees  of  his  forest,  where  we  delighted  to  fol¬ 
low  him,  thought  out  those  pages  he  wrote  on  the  name 
of  Jesus,  which  will  be  the  delight  of  Holy  Church,  and 
who  breathed  forth  those  hymns,  the  elevation  and  purity 
of  which  are  of  heaven,  but  whose  suppliant  tenderness 
tells  of  exile  ?  f 

No,  never,  thanks  to  the  sweet  discourses  and  to  the 
ardent  hymns  of  St.  Bernard,  did  men  more  happily 
rival  the  heavenly  court  in  glorifying  the  name  of  Jesus? 

*  If  you  write,  it  does  not  please  me  unless  I  read  there  the  name  of  Jesus.  Il 
you  discuss  or  consult,  I  find  nothing  agreeable  if  I  do  not  hear  the  name  of 
Jesus.  Jesus  is  sweetness  to  the  taste,  music  to  the  ear,  joy  to  the  heart.  (St.  • 
Bernard,  Cant,  of  Canticles .  Serm.  15.) 

f  Thus  far,  whatever  is  of  value  in  Scripture,  whatever  he  spiritually  feels,  he 
confesses  he  acquired  by  meditation  and  prayer,  especially  in  the  woods  and 
fields:  and  he  is  wont  to  say  among  his  friends,  in  his  playful  and  graceful  way, 
that  he  has  had  in  this  no  masters  but  the  oaks  and  the  beech  trees.  (Life  of  St. 
Bernard ,  by  William,  1.  1,  c.  4,  n.  23.) 


/ 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


IT 


V. 

GLORY  TO  GOD  IN  THE  HIGHEST. 

A  large  number  of  angels  assisted  at  the  Incarnation 
of  the  Word.  A  still  greater  number  receive  the  mis¬ 
sion  to  be  present  at  His  crib,  and  to  sing  His  birth  : 

“When  the  Word  has  descended,”  we  said,  “who  will 
hesitate  to  follow  Him  ?  Let  us  hasten  down  by  the  way 
He  has  opened  ;  let  us  run  in  His  paths,  and  let  us  too 
go  down.”* 

Bethlehem,  the  House  of  Bread,  is  going  to  see  real¬ 
ized  the  prophetic  meaning  of  its  name  ;  it  is  to  receive 
the  Bread  that  will  give  life  to  the  world. f 

But  just  now  Bethlehem  is  buried  in  darkness  ;  it 
sleeps,  and  all  in  the  country  around  is  in  obscurity  and 
and  silence.  Hary  alone  watches  with  Joseph.  Mid¬ 
night  is  approaching. 

Above  the  crib  prepared  for  the  Infant-God,  in  the 
midst  of  a  serene  sky  the  angelic  orchestra  is  drawn  up. 
A  great  light  surrounds  us,  making  bright  from  afar  the 
holy  night. 

Ravishing  melody  is  heard,  and  from  our  hearts  bursts 
forth  the  chant  of  a  million  voices  :  “  Glory  to  God  in 
the  heights  of  the  heavens. 

*  By  the  open  way  they  entered,  following  the  Lord  and  saying  among  them¬ 
selves:  If  He  has  gone  down,  why  do  we  remain  here  quiet?  Why  do  we  spare 
ourselves?  Come,  all  ye  angels,  let  us  descend  from  heaven.  (Origen,  Horn,  on 
Ezechiel.)  \ 

f  Hail,  Bethlehem,  house  of  bread,  in  which  was  born  the  Bread  that  came  down 
from  heaven.  (St.  Jerome,  Fun.  Oral.,  on  Saint  Paula.) 

Î  St.  Luke,  c.  2,  vs.  13. 14. 


18 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


At  this  powerful  and  penetrating  harmony,  the  waters 
seemed  to  flow  more  sweetly,  the  waves  to  move  more 
calmly,  the  perfume  of  the  flowers  to  be  more  delightful, 
the  forests  to  wave  more  joyously,  the  mountains  to  rise 
more  boldly,  the  stars  to  shine  more  brightly,  the  dreams 
of  men  to  take  more  graceful  shape. 

Wisdom  of  inferior  order  has  become  disconcerted  at 
this  spectacle,  and  exclaimed  : 

‘‘Light!  chants!  signs  of  joy  !  What  a  strange  and 
mysterious  contrast  !  Should  not  the  heavens,  at  this 
hour,  the  rather  appear  despoiled  of  their  splendor,  cov¬ 
ered  with  a  veil,  desolate,  mute,  or  giving  forth  only 
plaintive  lamentations  ? 

“  Light  without  its  sheen,  the  Word  without  speech, 
water  athirst,  bread  hungering,  power  calling  for  a  guide, 
wisdom  seeking  a  teacher,  force  wherewith  to  sustain  it,* 
in  short  a  God  poor,  humbled,  lessened  below  all  ;  what 
a  spectacle  !  Did  divine  glory  ever  suffer  such  eclipse  ? 
and  was  there  ever  for  the  friends  of  God  such  a  subject 
for  sorrow  ?  ” 

But  the  voices  of  angels  have  answered  : 

“  Neither  worlds  suddenly  springing  from  nothingness 
and  obediently  poising  themselves  in  space,  nor  the  pure 
spirits  presiding  over  their  evolutions  and  teaching  them 
to  give  praise,  have  offered  to  the  Most  High  a  like 
glory  !  ” 

Come,  wisdom  of  the  earth  !  Come  and  consider,  on 
the  one  side,  the  natural  greatness  of  the  Infant-God,  on 
the  other,  the  depth  of  Iiis  voluntary  self-abasement  ; 

*  There  is  recognized  light  not  shining,  the  Word  not  speaking,  water  athii-st, 
bread  hungering.  You  may  see,  if  attentive,  power  ruled,  wisdom  instructed, 
power  sustained.  tSt.  Bern.,  on  Missus  est.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH . 


19 


seize  with  thy  thought,  if  thou  canst,  the  distance,  and 
thou  wilt  understand  the  excellence  of  the  homage  which 
Jesus  pays  His  Father  on  this  night  of  blessing!  What 
greatness  !  what  value  !  Is  it  not  the  incommensurable, 
the  incomprehensible,  the  infinite  ? 

“  The  beat  of  the  heart,  the  look  of  the  eyes,  the  sound 
of  the  lips,  the  movement  of  the  members,  will  be  so 
many  divine  actions.  By  this  title  they  will  honor  the 
Eternal  more  than  our  canticles,  our  adoration,  our  vir¬ 
tues,  more  than  all  the  acts  and  all  the  perfections  of 
creatures.”  * 

No  tongue  angelic  or  human  will  express  how  sweet  it 
is  to  us  to  see  our  God  receive  such  homage,  to  be  able 
to  present,  as  our  offering  and  that  of  man,  the  merits 
of  the  Word  made  flesh,  to  be  called  to  repeat  in  turn, 
and  without  end,  through  all  creation,  u  Glory  to  God  in 
the  heights  of  heaven  !  ” 

o  , 

*  The  value,  as  well  meritorious  as  satisfactory,  of  actions,  is  not  estimated  only 
from  the  object  or  from  the  principle  by  which,  but  also  and  principally  from  the 
dignity  of  the  person  who  does  them,  as  the  principle  which  operates,  and  it 
therefore  increases  the  greater  the  dignity  of  the  person  :  but  the  person  of  Christ 
is  infinitely  worthy;  therefore  His  works,  though  from  the  condition  of  the  ob¬ 
ject  and  the  principle  by  which  finite  in  value,  from  the  infinite  dignity  of  the 
Person  from  whom  they  proceed,  have  a  value  in  point  of  merit  and  of  satisfac¬ 
tion  simply  infinite;  (Theologia  Claromontensis,  of  the  Redemption  of  Christ,  p,  2, 
c.  1,  art.  2.) 


20 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


YI. 

AND  PEACE  ON  EARTH. 

Continuing  our  song,  we  added  :  “  Peace  on  earth  to 
men  of  good  will.”* 

Impotent  heretofore  to  disarm  divine  justice,  the  good 
will  of  man  will  be  henceforth  more  efficacious:  it  will 
obtain  for  them  the  destruction  of  the  wall  of  bronze 
which  was  the  barrier  between  one’s  heavenly  home  and 
exile  ;  it  will  merit  for  them  the  right  to  see  in  us  their 
fellow  citizens,  to  salute  us  as  their  brethren. 

A  thousand  times  more  affectionate  and  fertile  in 
good,  will  be  the  care  with  which  we  shall  guard  their 
weakness. 

We  are  in  haste  to  announce  to  them  the  great  event, 
and  we  do  so  in  the  order  fixed  by  Providence. 

Gabriel,  bearer  of  the  good  tidings,  sets  out  for  the 
earth.  He  turns  away  from  the  dwellings  where  the 
slaves  of  sensual  pleasure  are  sleeping  ;  he  goes  down 
towards  the  country,  and  addresses  himself  to  poor  shep¬ 
herds.  The  brilliant  effulgence  with  which  he  surrounds 
them  troubles  them  at  first.  He  reassures  them  by  say- 
ing:  f 

u  Fear  not,  for  I  bring  you  tidings  that  will  be  a  great 

*  St.  Luke,  c.  2,  v.  14. 

f  Since  the  birth  of  Christ  the  angels  guard  us  more  efficaciously.  (Origen, 
Horn.  10,  on  St.  Luke.)  Whose  bowels  of  so  great  mercy  to  us,  they  too  imitate. 
(St.  Bernard,  on  St.  Michael.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  21 

joy  to  all  the  people  ;*  for  to-day,  in  the  city  of  David, 
is  born  to  you  a  Saviour,  who  is  Christ,  the  Lord.  I  give 
you  this  sign  ;  you  will  find  an  infant  wrapped  in  swad¬ 
dling  clothes,  and  laid  in  a  manger.” 

The  same  moment  our  songs  and  our  voices  are  heard, 
and  the  shepherds  say  among  themselves  : 

“  Let  us  go  over  to  Bethlehem  and  see  what  has  hap¬ 
pened,  what  the  Lord  hath  made  known  to  us.”f 

They  find  the  Infant  with  Joseph  and  Mary,  and  filled 
with  wonder  they  praise  God  in  their  turn  and  bless  Him 
wTith  us. 

At  the  crib  of  Bethlehem  angels  and  men  find  them¬ 
selves  united  in  the  same  canticle  for  the  first  time. 
There  we  began  that  beautiful  song  we  shall  sing  to¬ 
gether,  from  age  to  age,  in  the  vaulted  temple. | 

After  the  humble  and  the  lowly  will  come  the  power¬ 
ful  and  the  wise,  for  no  good  will  shall  be  excluded  irom 
salvation. 

With  rapid  flight,  the  angels  designated  for  the  new 
mission  seek,  under  the  Eastern  sky,  the  first  fruits  of 
the  Gentiles.  They  form  by  their  power  a  new  star, 
and  make  its  brilliancy  shine  before  the  eyes  of  Magi. || 
They  move  it  with  their  hands,  and  give  to  the  three 
elect  the  grace  of  inspiration  to  follow  it,  to  go  where  it 
goes,  and  to  stop  where  it  shall  stop. 

We  have  led  to  Jesus  His  first  adorers  ;  what  regret 
that  it  is  not  given  us  to  lead  to  His  cradle  all  the  earth, 

*  St.  Luke,  c.  2,  v.  9, 10. 
t  St.  Luke,  c.  2,  v.  15. 

J  The  hymn  of  the  angels  sung  at  the  Nativity  joined  heaven  and  earth  in  har- 
uony  and  fellowship.  (Photius,  Against  the  Manichœans,  1.  4,  c.  15.) 

||  The  angels  formed  it  out  of  condensed  air,  bestowing  upon  it  splendour 
orn.  a  Lap.,  on  Math.,  c.  2,  v.  2.)  An  angel  was  the  mover  and,  as  it  were,  the 
arioteer  of  the  star.  (Origen  Theophylactus,  St.  John  Chrysostom.) 


22  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

to  make  known  to  every  creature  the  humble  swaddling 
clothes,  the  lowly  crib,  the  rude  grot. 

Oh  !  hospitable  grot  ! — grot  a  thousand  times  blessed, 
that  didst  welcome  Joseph  and  Mary,  shield  the  birth  of 
our  God,  hear  His  cries,  witness  His  tears,  saw  at  thy 
feet  heaven  and  earth,  received  from  the  Holy  Family 
such  touching  farewells — grot  I  love  to  contemplate,  in 
wThich  it  gives  me  pleasure  to  fold  my  wings,  mayst  thou 
be  sung  and  glorified  forever! 

Resplendent  hostelries,  open  to  the  rich,  closed  to  the 
poor,  alien  to  this  great  event,  you  have  disappeared;  of 
you  no  stone  rests  upon  a  stone,  your  place  will  be  sought 
in  vain  ;  and  from  every  point  in  the  universe  men  will 
come  to  visit  the  grotto,  kiss  its  dust,  and  interrogate  the 
folds  of  its  rocks. 

For  heaven  as  for  earth  the  blessed  grot  will  be  a  place 
of  pilgrimage  ;  the  voice  of  our  country  will  unite  with 
that  of  exile  ;  men  will  continue  to  say  :  “  Glory  to  God 
in  the  heights  of  heaven!”  and  the  angels  will  reply  : 
“Peace  on  earth  to  men  of  good  will  !” 

,  '  \  ,  ‘  -  • 


\ 


23 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


VII. 

SATAN— HEROD. 

Satan  has  a  presentiment  of  the  blow  his  empire  is  to 
receive.  This  light,  these  songs,  this  joy,  this  call  of 
the  Shepherds  and  of  the  Magi,  this  union  of  heaven  and 
of  earth,  all  these  scenes  of  Bethlehem,  remaining  mys¬ 
teries  to  him,  preoccupy  and  disquiet  him. 

He  betakes  himself  to  Jerusalem,  enters  the  palace  of 
Herod,  breathes  into  the  heart  of  the  king  jealousy, 
cruelty,  pride,  hypocrisy,  all  the  attendant  low  passions, 
■which  he  has  tried  before,  still  tries,  and  will  use  to  make 
persecutors  and  tyrants. 

Herod  is  full  of  Satan’s  inspiration,  or  rather  Satan 
has  become  incarnate  in  Herod.  He  moves  and  conducts 
him  as  one  in  his  power. 

“A  King  is  just  born  to  the  Jewish  nation  ;  my  throne 
is  then  menaced?  my  crbwn  would  then  pass  to  the  brow 
of  another?  .  .  When  you  will  have  discovered  the  new 
king,  come,  0  magi,  tell  me  where  he  is,  that  I  may  take 
him  my  tribute,  and  bring  Jerusalem  to  his  feet?” 

Always  inspired  and  conducted  by  us,  the  magi  take 
another  way  to  return.*  Not  seeing  them  come  back, 
Herod  becomes  doubly  anxious.  His  fury  is  excited, 
and  orders  are  given  such  as  the  world  never  heard 
before  :  “  The  Infant  I  fear  shall  perish  :  He  shall  be 
drowned  in  blood.” 


*  St.  Matt.,  c.  2,  y.  12. 


24 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


That  He  may  not  escape  the  sword,  that  no  one  may 
be  substituted  for  Him,  all  the  children  of  two  years  of 
age  and  under  will  die  at  one  and  the  same  time  ;  all 
shall  be  immolated  by  the  hand  of  the  executioner. 
Neither  the  cries  nor  supplications  of  the  maternal  heart 
will  save  them. 

At  the  sight  of  the  rivers  of  blood,  Herod  will  have 
hope  of  safety;  Satan  will  rejoice. 

A  voice  will  be  heard  in  Rama,  with  groans  and  great 
outcry:  Rachel  bewailing  her  children,  and  refusing  to 
be  consoled,  because  they  are  not.* 

Guardian  Angels  of  these  little  innocents,  prepare 
your  psalms,  weave  your  crowns:  behold  the  first  fruits 
offered  to  the  Redeemer.  They  will  be  the  first  wit¬ 
nesses,  the  vanguard  of  the  innumerable  army  of  martyrs. 

Be  undeceived,  Rachel  ;  they  still  are  !  While  their 
members  were  torn  to  pieces  by  the  sword,  their  souls 
took  their  flight,  full  of  life.  Raise  thy  head,  heavy 
with  grief,  and  refuse  not  to  be  consoled.  Through  the 
country  of  heaven,  in  those  fields  sown  with  lilies,  dear 
sheep,  recognize  thy  lambs. f 

But,  Angels  of  God,  it  is  our  part  to  protect  the  days 
of  the  Divine  Infant  ;  to  watch  over  the  life  of  Him  by 
whom  alone  we  live. 

In  the  midst  of  the  night,  in  the  light  of  a  dream,  an 
Angel  commands  Joseph  to  rise,  to  take  the  Infant  and 
its  Mother,  and  fly  into  Egypt.J 

Joseph  obeys,  and  we  follow  the  three  exiles  in  their 

*  St.  Matt.,  c.  2,  v.  17, 18. 

f  Rachel  in  Hebrew  means  sheep.  Rachel  weeps,  i.  e.,  the  sheep  bewails  the 
loss  of  the  lambs  ;  but  the  angels  applaud,  and  also  the  children,  for  the  souls  oi 
the  little  ones,  as  if  of  lambs,  pass  to  the  society  of  the  angels.  (Corn,  a  Lap.  on 
St.  Matthew,  Ibid.) 

J  St.  Matt.,  c.  2,  v.  13. 


25 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

flight.  We  form  an  invisible  escort  for  them;  some  pre¬ 
cede,  others  surround  them  ;  others  extend  their  wings 
over  them  ;  others  remove  the  obstacles  in  the  way. 

When,  worn  out  by  fatigue,  the  Holy  Family  sits  at 
the  foot  of  a  leafless  tree,  we  clothe  the  branches  with 
large  leaves,  that  temper  the  heat  of  the  sun  ;  we  orna¬ 
ment  them  with  flowers,  which  spread  in  the  air  an  in¬ 
vigorating  perfume. 

The  Tree  of  the  Virgin  will  flourish  for  ages  in  the 
midst  of  the  desert.  It  will  be  the  well-spring  of  touch¬ 
ing  recollections  ;  it  will  become  a  centre  of  pilgrimage 
for  Angels  and  for  men. 

The  arrival  of  our  dear  exiles  in  Egypt  remained  un¬ 
known;  but  marvellous  facts  signaled  their  presence 
there.  According  to  the  orders  of  the  Heavenly  Father, 
and  through  our  actions,  the  ancient  prophecies  are  ac¬ 
complished;  the  temples  of  the  false  gods  are  shaken; 
their  columns  totter;  the  altars  tremble.  In  the  morn¬ 
ing,  when  the  priests  come  to  perform  their  sacrilegious 
rites,  they  see,  lying  on  the  pavement,  their  idols  broken 
into  a  thousand  pieces.* 

Soon  those  other  idols  will  fall  in  like  manner,  idols 
dearer,  more  worshiped,  raised  by  each  passion  in  the 
heart  of  man. 

In  the  vast  deserts  of  Egypt  will  be  seen  legions  of 
saints,  rivaling  the  purity  of  the  Angèls,  transforming 
the  solitude  into  heaven,  while  tyrants  are  transforming 
Roman  society  into  hell.f 

*  Isaias,  c.  19,  v.  1.  When  Mary  and  Joseph  and  the  child  Jesus  were  enter- 
enng  Egypt,  al-1  the  idols  of  that  province  fell  in  tlieir  temples,  as  was  foretold 
by  the  prophet  Isaias.  (Rudolph  of  Saxony,  Vita  Christi,  p.  1,  c.  13.) 

f  The  heavens  do  not  shine  with  such  varied  choirs  of  stars,  as  Egypt  is  made 
illustrious  by  the  numberless  dwellings  of  monks  and  virgins.  (St.  J.  Chrysos¬ 
tom,  Horn.  8.) 


26 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


Herod  all  at  once  stopped  by  death,  has  taken  with 
him,  to  the  bar  of  Divine  Justice,  his  conscience  stained 
with  blood. 

Ours  is  the  sweet  joy  of  announcing  to  Joseph  the  end 
of  his  exile,  and  to  protect  the  return  of  the  Holy  Family 
to  the  land  of  Israel.* 

The  Holy  Family  would  willingly  have  returned  to  the 
place  where  the  manger  was.  They  would  have  found 
them  touching  mementoes.  But  at  Bethlehem  the  era  of 
proscription  had  scarcely  closed.  Suspicion  might  be 
aroused  ;  new  perils  come  up.  The  ferocious  instincts 
of  Herod  survived  in  his  son  and  successor,  Archelaus.f 

We  led  our  exiles  into  the  city  prophetically  called 
Nazareth,  or  the  Beautiful  Flower.  Nazareth  is  the 
birth-place  of  Mary;  it  will  be  the  home  of  Joseph.  It 
was  at  Nazareth  that  the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation  was 
accomplished  ;  it  is  there  the  Incarnate  Word  will  pass 
His  infancy,  His  youth,  all  His  hidden  life . J 

*  St.  Matt.  c.  2,  y.  19, ,20. 

f  Ibid.,  y.  22. 

|  Ibid.,  v.  22,  23.  Nazareth  is  interpreted  a  beautiful  flower.  Here  wasMary( 
the  white  flower  of  virginity,  born.  Here  Christ,  that  the  flower  of  the  field 
might  be  born  in  the  budding-forth  of  virtues,  was  conceived  and  educated.  (St. 
Jerome.) 


/ 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


27 


VIII. 

NAZARETH. 

♦ 

Ask  again,  Nathanael,  what  good  can  come  ont  of 
Nazareth?  With  the  disciple  of  Bethsaida,  the  Angels 
will  answer  :  “  Come  and  see  !  ” 

The  Eternal  Word  has  fallen  heir  to  two  heritages  ; 
one  by  His  eternal  *  generation,  the  other  by  generation 
in  time  ;  the  former  from  His  Father,  the  latter  from  His 
Mother;  He  owes  heaven  to  His  Father,  Nazareth  He 
owes  to  His  Mother.  These  two  inheritances  are  His 
two  native  lands. f 

At  Nazareth,  as  in  heaven,  come  weighty  messages,  and 
important  affairs  are  treated  of.  The  royal  residence  is 
at  Nazareth  as  in  heaven., 

Nazareth,  henceforth,  is  the  point  which  commands  the 
spiritual  world.  Everything  is  connected  with  it;  all 
centers  there.  When  Jesus  takes  a  step,  the  center  of 
the  angelic  spheres  changes. 

But  Nazareth  makes  us  witnesses  of  scenes  very  dif¬ 
ferent  from  those  the  life  of  the  Word  offers  us  in  the 
bosom  of  His  Father. 

*  St.  John,  c.  1,  y,  46. 

f  You  wonder  that  Nazareth,  a  little  town,  should  he  honored  by  such  a  great 
messenger  oi  so  great  a  King.  But  a  great  treasure  lies  hid  in  the  small  city  ;  it 
is  hidden  from  men,  not  from  God.  Does  the  only  begotten  Son  of  the  Father 
know  heaven?  If  He  knows  heaven.  He  knows  also  Nazareth.  Why  should  He 
not  know  his  birthplace  ?  Why  should  He  not  know  his  inheritance  ?  Heaven 
is  from  His  Father  ;  Nazareth  he  claims  from  His  mother.  (St.  Bern,  on  the  An¬ 
nunciation.) 


28 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


The  least  actions  of  the  Infant-God,  His  speech  and 
His  silence,  His  tears  and  His  smile,  His  prayer  and  His 
work,  His  movement  and  His  repose,  His  watching  and 
His  sleep — everything  excites  our  admiration  ;  every¬ 
thing  calls  forth  our  love. 

0  Earth,  that  hast  the  honor  to  bear  our  God,  proceed 
joyously  through  space  ;  receive  from  our  hands  a  more 
tender  care  on  the  way  around  thy  sun. 

And  you,  spirits  who  direct  the  worlds  above,  bow 
down  ;  salute  as  He  passes  the  One  who  is  to  make  you 
glorious. 

Let  that  land  be  blessed  which  has  become  His  sojourn! 
Blessed  be  the  harvests  that  nourish  Him,  the  fountains 
that  slake  His  thirst,  the  raiment  that  covers  His  mem- 
bers,  the  flowers  that  perfume  the  air  around  Him  ! 

Blessed  the  way  He  treads,  the  country  that  delights 
his  eye,  the  wood  his  hand  fashions  ! 

Blessed  the  children  just  born,  the  old  men  who  have 
not  yet  quitted  this  life,  the  just  who  will  see  Him,  sin¬ 
ners  who  will  hear  Him  ! 

Blessed  all  those  who  are  of  this  time  of  Jesus  ?  At 
Nazareth  is  the  focus  of  love  brought  from  heaven  to  set 
the  world  on  fire.  There  is  the  torch  of  light,  there  the 
secrets  of  God,  there  salvation.  Thence  spread  over  the 
world  the  splendors  of  the  faith,  the  flames  of  charity, 
the  treasures  of  hope,  all  the  blessings  of  eternity. 

But  also  what  do  we  see  ?  what  spectacle  is  that  ? 
what  signs  of  mourning  in  the  midst  of  such  delightful 
brightness?  what  feelings  of  sadness  amid  so  many  ex¬ 
pressions  of  joy? 

This  earth,  so  honored  and  glorified,  this  earth  so 
blessed  and  made  fertile,  this  earth,  ah  !  under  that 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


29 


beautiful  sky  which  smiles  upon  it,  upon  the  very  soil 
pressed  by  the  foot  of  Divine  Benefactor,  lo  !  it  pro¬ 
duces  thorns,  scourges,  reeds. 

And  there,  high  up  is  growing  in  the  forest,  spreads 
its  limbs  swaying  in  the  wind,  a  tree  that  shall  one  day 
be  a  cross  I 


A 


\ 


v 


/ 


\ 


30 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


I  ^  ! 

IX. 

THE  DESERT. 

The  Redeemer  is  about  to  begin  His  preaching. 
Thirty  years  of  obscurity  and  of  silence  are  not  enough 
to  prepare  for  this  great  work  ;  His  zeal  calls  for  the 
desert,  penance,  combat  with  the  spirit  of  darkness. 

At  the  sight  of  this  strange  Solitary,  who  seems  to 
surpass  the  just  of  times  past,  Satan  is  tormented. 
Satan  asks  himself  who  He  is,  whence  He  comes,  what 
He  proposes  to  do  — all  impenetrable  mystery.* 

The  demons  do  not  know  just  now  if  Jesus  is  the 
promised  Messiah.  They  have  a  suspicion  of  it;  they 
want  to  be  certain  of  it.  This  is  one  of  the  intentions 
Satan  has  in  the  temptation,  f 

After  numerous  and  splendid  miracles  which  will  fol¬ 
low  each  other  in  the  life  of  Jesus,  they  will  recognize 
and  publish  that1  He  is  the  Christ,  the  Holy  One,  the  En¬ 
voy  of  God,  the  Son  of  God.  f 

But  to  the  very  end  of  His  mission  they  will  remain 
ignorant  whether  He  is  the  Eternal  Son  of  the  Father, 

*  The  mystery  of  the  Incarnation  is  not  known  to  the  demons,  as  it  is  to  the 
holy  angels,  but  the  knowledge  is  forced  on  them  by  some  temporal  effects,  so  as 
to  terrify  them.  (St.  Thomas  1,  q.  34,  art.  1.)  When  he  judged  fit  to  somewhat 
express  those  signs  of  His  presence,  and  was  more  completely  hidden,  the  prince 
of  demons  doubted  him.  (St.  Aug.,  City  of  God ,  1.  9,  c.  21.) 

f  He  tempted  Him  that  he  might  find  out  whether  He  were  Christ.  (St.  Aug. 
Ibid.) 

Î  Seeing  the  miracles,  he  conjectures  from  a  certain  suspicion  that  He  was  the 
Son  of  God.  (St.  Thomas  3,  q.  44,  art.  1.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  31 

whether  He  is  the  Word  Incarnate,  whether  He  is  the 
God-man,  whether  He  is  God.* * 

If  they  had  clearly  recognized  his  divinity,  if  they  had 
foreseen  and  understood  the  consequences  of  His  death, 
they  would  not  have  led  his  enemies  to  crucify  Him.f 
The  uncertainty  in  which  the  demons  were  left  on  a 
subject  so  manifest  to  angels  and  to  men,  shows  how  easy 
it  is  for  God  to  darken  when  he  pleases  those  intellects 
naturally  so  great. 

What  disturbs  here  their  intelligence,  what  surpasses 
their  power  of  discernment,  is  the  condition  of  weakness 
and  infirmity  in  which  they  see  the  Redeemer. J 

Not  having  the  light  of  glory  nor  that  of  grace,  de¬ 
prived  of  all  knowledge  matutinal  or  vespertinal,  reduced 
to  their  nocturnal  knowledge,  they  cannot  account  to 
themselves  for  a  fact  accomplished  in  the  supernatural 
order. 

Pride  and  hate  moreover  prevent  their  fixing  the  eyes 
of  their  intelligence  on  what  they  do  not  wish  to  see. || 
It  is  the  same  disposition  that  turned  them  from  truth 
and  confirmed  them  in  error  on  the  day  of  their  first 
crime. 

i 

*  That  they  confessed  Him  to  be  the  Son  of  God  was  more  from  suspicion  than 
certainty.  (Ibid.) 

f  But  if  they  had  known  perfectly  and  with  certainty  the  effects  of  His  Pas¬ 
sion,  they  would  never  have  crucified  the  God  of  Glory.  (St.  Thomas,  1,  q.  64, 
art.  1.) 

I  Bear  in  mind  that  the  demons  did  not  know  it  so  clearly  and  firmly,  that, 
thinking,  on  the  other  hand,  of  the  greatness  of  the  mystery  of  such  condescen¬ 
sion  and  humiliation  on  the  part  of  Christ,  that  seemed  naturally  incredible,  es¬ 
pecially  to  the  proud  devil,  they  did  not  hesitate  and  doubt  whether  Jesus  were 
the  Messialyand  the  Son  of  God.  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  on  St.  Mark ,  c.  3,  v.  12.) 

||  They  hesitated  because  hatred  of  Jesus  blinded  them.  Whence  it  came,  that 
blinded  by  hatred  of  Jesus,  they  did  not  consider  or  did  not  understand  the  sa¬ 
cred  Scriptures,  otherwise  clear,  concerning  the  cross  and  redemption  of  Christ 
and  our  redemption  thereby.  (Ibid.) 


32 


-'i 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

When  Jesus  will  come  forth  from  the  tomb,  when  they 
will  see  Him  ascend  triumphantly  to  heaven,  they  will 
feel  themselves  subjugated  by  evidence,  and  they  will 
have  neither  doubt  nor  uncertainty. 

Satan  has  reaped  from  the  persecution  of  Herod  only 
spite  and  confusion.  He  will  not  immediately  have  re-  - 
course  to  a  new  persecution.  He  is  going  to  overcome 
by  temptation  the  redoubtable  Unknown. 

He  has  before  his  eyes  the  victories  won  over  Adam 
and  personages  the  most  holy. 

Sensuality,  curiosity,  pride,  have  been  his  weapons  in 
former  times;  they  will  be  his  arms  now. 

Apostolic  men,  and  all  you  who  meditate  great  works, 
.come  receive  lessons  of  wisdom. 

In  permitting  the  monster  stained  with  the  blood  of 
souls  to  approach  Him,  to  speak  to  Him,  to  put  his  hand 
upon  Him,  to  transport  Him  from  one  place  to  another, 
to  tempt  Him,  the  Son  of  God  will  show  you  what  you 
are  to  expect,  and  the  assaults  you  will  have  to  sustain 
before  combating  for  others. 

In  turning  the  shafts  of  the  enemy  against  himself,  in 
confounding  him  by  his  own  words,  the  Divine  Master 
will  teach  you  prudence,  will  inspire  you  with  courage, 
will  assure  you  of  triumph. 

To  be  present  at  this  impressive  struggle  between  the 
Redeemer  and  the  tempter,  we  hastened  from  all  parts  of 
the  heavens  ;  but  our  attitude  was  not  that  of  combat. 
It  does  not  belong  to  us  to  lend  the  aid  of  our  strength  to 
the  Author  of  strength. 

We  remained  at  a  distance  devoted  spectators,  but 
simply  spectators. 

Seeing  the  Redeemer  overcome  by  hunger,  the  tempter 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


33 


said  to  Him  :  “  If  Thou  art  the  Son  of  God,  command 
these  stones  to  become  bread.”* * * §  Jesus  answered  him: 
It  is  written  ;  “  Not  on  bread  alone  does  a  man  live,  but 
from  every  word  that  issues  from  the  mouth  of  God.”  f 
The  tempter  transported  him  to  the  holy  city,  and 
placed  Him  on  the  pinnacle  of  the  temple,  and  said  to 
Him  :  “  If  thou  art  the  Son  of  God,  throw  Thyself  down, 
for  it  is  written  :  He  has  given  His  angels  charge  over 
Thee,  and  they  will  bear  Thee  up,  lest  Thou  dash  Thy 
foot  against  a  stone.”  f  Jesus  answered  him:  It  is  writ¬ 
ten  :  Thou  shalt  not  tempt  the  Lord,  thy  God.”|| 

The  tempter  carried  Him  up  into  a  high  mountain,  and 
showed  Him  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  world,  and  said  to 
Him  :  “  All  these  will  I  give  Thee  if  falling  down  Thou 
wilt  adore  me.”  §  Jesus  answered  him:  “  Begone 
Satan,  for  it  is  written  :  The  Lord  thy  God  shalt  thou 
adore,  and  Him  only  shalt  thou  serve.’  ^f 

The  tempter  left  Him,  and  we  approached.  ** 

To  suppose  accessible  to  sensuality,  pride,  and  avarice 
Him  who  comes  to  found  the  kingdom  of  mortification,  of 
humility,  of  abnegation,  Him  through  whom  alone  virtue 
flourishes,  is  this  not  the  height  of  blindness  and  of  folly  ? 

Externally  Satan  puts  all  his  engines  at  work  ;  but 
interiorly  the  heart  of  the  Just  One  preserves  an  unalter¬ 
able  calm,  and  is  not  even  lightly  affected. ft  At  every 

*  St.  Matt.,  c.  4,  v.  3. 
flbii,v.  4.  t 

|  Ibid,  v.  6. 

||  Ibid,  v.  7. 

§  Ibid,  v.  9. 

Ibid,  v.  10. 

**  Ibid,  v.  11.  Angels  ministered  unto  him,  not  as  merciful  to  one  in  need, but 
as  subjects  to  the  Almighty.  (St.  Aug.,  on  the  56  Ps.) 

ft  Since  temptation  takes  place  in  three  ways,  by  suggestion,  delectation,  and 
consent,  the  Lord  was  tempted  only  by  suggestion.  (St.  Gregory,  Homily  on  the 
Gospel  Tentavit  Diabolus.) 


i 


\ 


34 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


new  attempt  of  Satan  a  word  is  enough  to  dissipate 
everything. 

In  contemplating  this  scene,  we  understood  better  than 
ever  the  grace  of  our  preservation.  Without  this  grace 
we  should  perhaps  be  there,  near  Satan,  or  in  his  place, 
debased  to  that  ignoble  occupation,  engaged  in  a  sacri¬ 
legious  strife. 

After  the  victory  Jesus  permits  us  to  come,  felicitate 

Him  and  minister  to  Him.  We  hasten  to  refresh  His 

.  \ 

failing  body. 

By  Thy  almighty  power,  0  good  Master,  produce  in 
these  fields  some  new  fruits.  We  will  speedily  gather 
them  to  present  them  to  Thee. 

The  Master  refuses  :  He  will  reserve  for  the  crowd 
these  miraculous  productions  ;  we  shall  never  see  Him 
work  a  miracle  for  Himself  or  for  His  disciples.  Urged 
by  hunger,  His  disciples  will  one  day  be  content  to  break 
off’  the  grains  of  corn  with  their  hands.* 

Two  angels,  understanding  his  desire,  leave,  and  with 
rapid  flight  transport  themselves  to  Nazareth.  They 
present  themselves  to  Mary,  humbly  salute  her,  tell  her 
of  the  condition  in  which  they  have  left  her  Son. 

Mary  has  just  prepared  the  modest  repast  of  the 
family.  She  takes  it,  with  much  emotion  places  it  in 
their  hands,  and  they  are  back  in  the  desert.  They  ar¬ 
range  upon  a  table  of  sward  the  aliment  prepared  by 
hands  so  pure,  and  Jesus  takes  His  seat.f 

*  We  do  not  see  He  used  this  power  for  Himseil  or  His  disciples,  but  He  used 
it  for  the  people.  (Ludolph  of  Saxony,  Life  of  Chiist,  p.  1,  c.  22.) 

t  Two  angels  go,  at  a  word  iroin  the  Lord,  and  in  a  moment  "were  before  His 
mothej,  and  reveiently  saluting  her,  tell  her  of  her  son’s  condition,  carry  back 
the  food  sue  had  prepared  for  herself  and  Joseph,  and  bread  with  other  things 
proper.  Returning  therefore,  they  prepare  on  the  ground  the  repast  and  sol¬ 
emnly  bless  the  table.  (Ibid.) 


•"'\p 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


35 


We  press  around  Him  in  a  circle,  and  while  He  ap¬ 
peases  a  hunger  that  expiates  so  much  sensuality,  we  feel 
a  joy  mingled  with  sadness. 

He  has  overcome  Satan,  and  He  will  always  overcome 
him,  we  said  ;  but  the  Author  and  Conserver  of  all  good 
reduced  to  ask  His  sustenance  from  that  perishable  matter, 
what  a  spectacle  !  and  who  among  angels  or  men  could 
look  on  it  without  being  moved  to  tears.* 

*  The  angels  stand  around  ministering  to  the  Lord,  and  sing  a  hymn  from  the 
Canticles  of  Sion  and  rejoice,  celebrating  with  Him  a  festal  day.  But,  if  it  be 
lawful  so  to  speak,  this  least  is  modified  by  very  great  compassion,  on  account 
of  which  we  too  should  lament.  They  look  on  Him  reverently,  and  considering 
their  God  and  their  Lord,  the  Creator  of  the  universe  who  gives  food  to  all  flesh, 
thus  humbled  and  needing  the  sustenance  of  bodily  food,  as  the  rest  of  men, 
they  are  filled  with  compassion  on  account  of  it.  (Ibid.) 


36 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


X. 

JUDEA. 

If  the  waters  of  the  Jordan  reflected  the  wings  of  the 
angels  as  they  reflect  the  rays  of  the  stars,  what  a  pic¬ 
ture  would  they  not  have  offered  at  the  moment  when 
Jesus  received  baptism  from  the  hands  of  the  Precursor! 
We  were  there  present,  attentive,  and  it  was  one  of  us 
who  from  the  heights  of  the  air  made  his  voice  heard,  in 
the  name  of  the  Father,  in  these  words  :  “  This  is  my  be¬ 
loved  Son,  in  whom  I  am  well  pleased.”  * 

For  thirty  years  we  have  read  the  beautiful  book  of 
His  hidden  life.  We  have  studied  in  it  the  secret  of  His 
love  for  souls  and  His  zeal  for  the  glory  of  His  Father. 
He  is  going  to  labor  and  teach  for  the  accomplishment  of 
His  great  work.  While  forming  the  church  of  souls,  He 
will  not  cease  to  instruct  the  Church  of  Angels. f 

0  Judea!  Judea!  land  from  early  days  cultivated  by 
miracles,  land  of  deep  mystery,  of  splendid  testimony, 
of  touching  remembrance  ;  Judea,  sojourn  of  the  prophets 
and  of  the  patriarchs,  country  of  David  and  of  Solomon, 
of  Anna  and  of  Joachim,  of  Mary  and  of  Joseph,  coun¬ 
try  of  great  souls,  country  of  the  Word  Incarnate,  what 
honor  to  Thee  ! 

Behold,  thy  mountains  are  to  be  the  seat  of  His  teach¬ 
ings  ;  thy  cedars  will  reecho  His  prayer  ;  thy  tempests 

*  St.  Matt.,  c.  3,  v.  17.  This  voice  in  the  person  of  the  Father  was  formed  by 
the  ministry  of  angels.  (Victor  of  Antioch,  on  St.  Mark ,  c.  T.) 

f  The  soul  of  Christ  is  more  filled  with  the  power  of  God,  than  any  one  of  the 
angels;  wherefore  it  illumines  the  Angels.  (St.  Thomas,  3,  q.  59,  art.  6.) 


3T 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

!  'V 

will  recognize  His  voice  ;  thy  lakes  will  make  solid  their 
waters  under  His  feet  ;  thy  rocks  will  proclaim  His  power  ; 
thy  sepulchres  opening  will  give  up  to  Him  their  dead  ; 
thy  dust  will  drink  His  Blood  ;  thy  bosom  receive  His 
Body  ;  thy  plains  and  thy  hill-sides  will  offer  what  is 
needed  for  His  Blessed  Eucharistic  banquet! 

Toward  thee  turn  the  eyes  of  men,  toward  thee  those 
of  the  Angels  ;  we  all  give  ear. 

To  bring  about  in  the  world  the  reestablishment  of 
order,  to  secure  for  virtue  honor,  happiness,  love;  to 
exalt  what  has  hitherto  been  despised,  accursed,  hated  ; 
to  cry  to  the  poor  and  abandoned:  “  Blessed  are  ye!  ” 
to  the  rich  and  powerful:  “  Evil  betides  you  Ho  ! 
this  is  not  too  much  for  the  voice  and  action  of  a  God. 

The  Redeemer  began  His  mission  by  relieving  the  bod¬ 
ily  and  spiritual  miseries  of  humanity  :  a  double  lesson 
of  love  which  will  multiply  an  hundred-fold  our  zeal  on 
earth  and  our  joy  in  heaven. 

His  divine  virtue  will  be  the  inexhaustible  treasure  of 
those  He  loves.  The  change  of  water  into  wine,  the 
multiplication  of  the  loaves,  the  miraculous  draught  of 
fish,  the  calming  of  the  tempest,  the  healing  of  the  sick, 
the  raising  of  the  dead  to  life,  the  exorcising  of  demons; 
are  not  these  so  many  displays  of  divine  power  com¬ 
manded  by  love  ? 

The  Scribes  and  the  Pharisees  come  to  ask  of  Him 
signs  in  the  heavens  :  He  refuses.  He  has  nothing  to  do 
with  satisfying  the  curiosity  of  the  proud.  All  His 
miracles  are  miracles  of  love.  How  truly  will  the  Evan¬ 
gelist  of  His  heart  say:  “He  passed  by  doing  good,  and 
delivering  those  whom  the  demon  oppressed!”* 


*  Acts,  c.  10.  v.  38. 


88 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


See  this  physician,  so  compassionate  of  the  miseries 
of  the  body,  face  to  face  with  the  infirmities  of  the  soul. 

All  the  vices,  all  faults  united,  could  not  extinguish  His 
charity.  Far  from  rendering  it  cold,  they  excite  and  in¬ 
flame  it.* 

Come  ;  approach  :  see  Him  in  the  midst  of  sinners  :  it 
is  the  moment  in  which  He  teaches  the  great  lesson. 

How  indulgent  He  is  towards  them!  How  He  loves 

them  !  It  is  for  them  He  has  come  ;  ’tis  to  them  He 

goes  by  preference. 

Under  that  coarse  layer,  a  pearl  is  shining  ;  in  that 
shapeless  block,  a  master-piece  lies  waiting  ;  out  of  the 
city  of  sense,  a  people  of  Saints  is  to  arise. f 

The  Pharisee,  the  man  of  outward  appearance,  mur¬ 
murs  at  His  condescension  ;  but  these  murmurs  hold  cap¬ 
tive  neither  His  voice  nor  His  hand. 

When  he  will  have  pressed  in  His  arms  His  dear 

prodigal,  brought  back  to  the  fold  His  beloved  sheep, 

replaced  in  His  treasury  the  drachma  recovered,  He  will 
invite  us  to  congratulate  Him,  to  celebrate  His  good  for¬ 
tune,  to  rejoice  with  Him. 

During  His  mission  we  are  busy  preparing  the  way 
for  Him,  opening  hearts  for  Him,  gaining  Him  souls. 
We  strive  in  every  way  to  cause  Him  to  be  loved, 
blessed,  adored.  We  are  ambitious  for  no  glory  but 
His;  we  share  His  joys;  we  celebrate  His  triumphs; 
we  are  happy  to  disappear  in  pointing  Him  out.J 

*  Canticles,  c.  8,  v.  7. 

t  Acts,  c.  18,  v.  10. 

J  All  the  angels  seek  the  glory  of  Him  they  love  ;  they  strive  to  draw  to  His 
worship,  adoration,  contempla,  ion,  those  they  love  ;  they  announce  Him  to  them, 
not  themselves,  because  they  ai  e  angels;  and  because  they  are  soldi*  rs,  they  know 
not  how  to  seek  their  glory,  but  that  of  their  Commander.  (St.  Aug.,  on  96  Ps.) 


\ 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


39 


But  at  His  nakedness,  His  privations,  His  weariness, 
His  sadness,  His  tears,  there  arise  in  our  hearts  emo¬ 
tions  that  cannot  be  described. 

Such  touching  proofs  of  His  love  enkindle  in  us  a  new 
love,  and  we  regret  not  to  be  able,  as  man  is,  to  take 
part  in  His  sacrifices  and  share  them. 

Ye  apostolic  souls,  come  to  our  aid! 

We  see  the  face  of  God,  we  are  at  the  source  of  grace, 
we  will  obtain  for  you  the  greatest  favors,  we  will  secure 
for  you  treasures  of  light,  of  force,  of  unction. 

But  in  return,  in  our  name  and  for  us,  do  wh^t  we 
cannot  do,  seek  and  bear  fatigue,  suffer  the  anguish  of 
compassion,  give  yourselves  up  to  the  tortures  of  love, 
brave  privation  and  pain. 

Mingle  with  the  sweat  and  tears  of  the  Redeemer, 
with  the  intention  of  the  angels,  your  sweat  and  tears. 


t 


40 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


XI. 

THE  CENACLE. 

A  day  was  to  come  when  spirits  crowned  with  glory, 
and  seated  at  the  banquet  of  divine  delight,  would  bear 
man  a  holy  envy,  and  regard  it  a  great  honor  to  be 
seated  by  his  side. 

This  table  which  the  angels  surround,  but  of  which 
man  alone  partakes,  is  the  Eucharistic  Table. 

In  heaven  the  Eternal  Word  gives  Himself  to  us  in 
His  magnificence,  and  communicates  to  us  His  divinity. 

On  earth  the  Incarnate  Word  clothes  Himself  with 
humble  appearances,  and  communicates  to  man  also  His 
humanity. 

In  the  Eucharist  then,  the  Word  gives  Himself  more 
fully  to  man  than  to  us,  and  in  a  manner  more  touching. 

It  is  not  given  to  us,  as  to  man,  to  participate  in  this 
Bread  which  came  down  from  heaven;  this  Body,  this 
Blood. 

Happy  guests,  well-beloved  apostles,  this  invitation  He 
addresses  to  you  here  below;  ’tis  you  He  calls  His 
friends,  His  brethren,  with  a  more  solemn  and  loving 
voice  ;  ’tis  you  who  are  to  take  your  places  around 
Him  and  repose  upon  His  bosom.* 

You  are  to  receive  from  His  hands  in  yours  this 

•/ 

*  The  angels  desire  to  have  the  freedom  with  Christ  that  lie  had  who  reposecf 
on  His  breast.  (Philip  the  Solit.,  to  the  Monk  Callirus.) 


/ 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


41 


divine  nourishment,  to  break  this  Sacred  Bread,  to  raise 
to  your  lips  this  chalice,  to  nourish  yourselves  with  this 
Flesh,  to  sate  your  thirst  with  this  Blood,  to  contract  an 
ineffable  union  which  is  to  make  Jesus  live  in  you. 

A  great  love  created  the  world;  a  greater  love  re¬ 
deemed  it;  an  extreme  love  gave  it  the  Blessed  Eu¬ 
charist. 

In  the  Eucharist  wre  see  neither  a  simple  transforma¬ 
tion,  nor  a  pure  substitution,  nor  a  new  creation,  nor  a 
previous  annhilation.  It  is  a  change  of  one  substance 
into  another,  a  transubstantiation.  Transubstantiation, 
an  operation  of  itself,  which  eclipses  anterior  miracles, 
and  appears  to  us  as  an  abyss  of  miracles  ! 

Mystery  of  faijth  whose  depth  is  infinite,  but  which 
every  loving  soul  will  accept,  and  will  believe  more 
firmly,  the  more  ardently  she  will  love. 

This  proof  of  an  infinite  love  will  not  be  reserved  to 
the  apostles,  to  the  first  disciples,  to  a  happy  elite  of 
humanity.  The  divine  Body  and  Blood  will  remain 
permanently  on  earth  ;  they  will  be  preserved  till  the 
consummation  of  ages.  Every  soul  in  its  pilgrimage 
will  receive  it  as  a  strengthening  viaticum. 

But  where  is  that  divine  manna  to  be  gathered?  In 
what  place?  Under  what  roof?  In  what  precious 
vase  ? 

Give  the  order,  0  Lord!  and  Thy  angels  will  supply 
man’s  deficiency.  They  will  prepare  for  Thee  a  tem¬ 
ple  of  incomparable  proportions,  an  altar  as  beautiful 
as  a  pure  heart,  a  tabernacle  as  brilliant  as  the  splendor 
of  the  heavens,  a  chalice  cut  in  the  diamond  that  fell 
from  the  brow  of  Lucifer. 


I 


V.  . 

42  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

The  people  will  flock  to  this  chosen  spot  of  earth.  At 
the  threshold  of  a  dwelling  which  majesty  crowns  and 
goodness  inhabits,  they  will  arrive  sanctified  by  penance, 
tried  by  long  desires,  full  of  respect,  their  bosoms 
heaving  with  emotion. 

But  no  !  Despite  the  immense  love  that  distinguishes 
Him  in  glory,  the  Angel  cannot  penetrate  all  the  secrets 
of  divine  love. 

The  temples,  the  altars,  the  tabernacles,  the  sacred 
vases,  will  be  multiplied  by  the  hand  of  man.  They  will 
be  innumerable  on  the  earth,  and  will  see  the  wonders  of 
the  consecration  renewed  each  day  by  the  voice  of  a  sim¬ 
ple  creature. 

What  will  be  the  word,  0  Lord,  that  will  work  these 
wonders  ?  and  who  shall  be  the  happy  creature  to  pro¬ 
nounce  it  ?  ' 

Among  the  creatures  that  have  come  from  Thy  hand, 
here  are  the  most  exalted,  the  most  perfect,  your  seraphs! 

But  what  seraph  would  dare  pronounce  divine  words 
over  such  weak  elements  and  expect  the  realization  of 
the  great  mystery  ?  \ 

On  man,  on  thousands  of  men,  will  this  dignity  and 
these  powers  be  conferred. 

It  is  yours,  0  Priests  of  the  Lord,  to  purify  your¬ 
selves,  and  ascend  the  holy  Mount;  yours  to  consecrate 
at  every  dawn  the  Body  and  Blood  of  your  God,  to  dis¬ 
tribute  it  to  souls,  and  to  remain  its  incorruptible  guar¬ 
dians.* 

It  is  ours,  Angels  of  heaven,  to  prostrate  ourselves  in 

*  Great  is  the  dignity  of  priests,  to  whom  is  given  what  is  not  granted  to  angels. 

For  only  priests,  rightly  ordained  in  the  Church,  have  the  power  of  celebrating1 
and  of  consecrating  the  body  of  Christ.  (Following  of  Christ,  1.  4,  c.  5.) 


i 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


43 


adoration  around  the  priest  who  is  consecrating  ;  ours  to 
accompany  him  to  the  august  table  where  the  new  disci¬ 
ples  are  ranged  ;  ours  to  carry  sometimes  the  Blessed  Eu¬ 
charist  to  holy  and  fervent  souls  ;  ours  to  watch  near  the 
tabernacle,  and  to  perpetuate  there  the  singing  of  the 
divine  mercies  ;  ours  finally  to  learn  to  love  each  day 
more  those  the  Divine  Word  has  so  much  loved. 


44 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


XII 

-  \  ••>1 

GETHSEMANE. 

Surrounded  by  His  Apostles,  accompanied  by  His 
Angels,  Jesus  goes  forth  from  the  cenacle,  passes  the  tor¬ 
rent  of  Cedron,  and  enters  the  garden  of  Olives.  What 
solitude  Î  What  darkness  !  The  silence  is  interrupted 
only  by  the  sighing  of  the  wind  through  the  cedars. 
Jesus  watches  and  prays. 

Through  the  shadows  of  night  appears  to  Him  the  im¬ 
mense  chalice  to  which  every  human  being  brings  his 
contingent  of  bitterness.  We  see  mix  and  whirl  in  it,  as 
a  tempest,  the  crimes  of  all  times,  and  of  all  places. 

The  horror  that  Angels  and  men  have  ever  had  for 
evil  could  never  come  near  that  the  Redeemer  experi¬ 
ences.  He  is  going  to  take  on  Him  all  their  crimes, 
clothe  Himself  with  them  as  with  a  vestment,  give  Him¬ 
self  up  to  sovereign  justice,  expiate  them  as  a  warning 
to  those  who  commit  them. 

To  fathom  what  there  is  of  sorrow  and  bitterness  in 
the  anguish  of  the  God-Man,  it  would  be  necessary  like 
Him  to  understand  the  necessary,  eternal,  infinite  oppo¬ 
sition  there  is  between  the  sovereign  good  and  the  sove¬ 
reign  evil.  We  understand  this  opposition  better  than 
man  ;  we  could  not  comprehend  it  as  God  does. 

It  is  by  a  great  miracle  of  His  power  and  of  His  love 
that  the  Redeemer  unites  in  Himself  to  day  the  two  ex¬ 
tremes — happiness  and  suffering. 


> 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


45 


After  the  fall  of  the  first  man,  says  a  poet,  the  Eter¬ 
nal  asked  of  heaven  in  consternation  if  some  one  of  the 
pure  spirits  would  consent  to  devote  himself  to  the  sal¬ 
vation  of  the  human  race.  The  divine  hierarchies  re¬ 
mained  motionless  and  mute — no  one  felt  strong  enough 
to  offer  himself  in  sacrifice  and  become  the  willing  object 
of  celestial  vengeance. 

The  image  is  simple,  but  contains  the  expression  of  a 
great  truth.  If  the  Son  of  God  was  to  find  the  chalice 
bitter,  how  wrould  a  mere  creature  have  dared  to  raise  it 
to  his  lips  ?  Independently  of  insufficiency  of  merit,  how 
could  he  have  found  in  himself  the  immense  love  the 
mystery  of  the  Passion  demands  ? 

With  inexpressible  emotion  we  hear  the  Incarnate 
Word  say  and  repeat:  “  Father,  if  it  be  possible,  let  this 
chalice  pass  from  me  ;  nevertheless  not  my  will,  but  thine 
be  done.”* 

The  chalice  does  not  pass  away  ;  the  will  of  the  Father 
shall  be  accomplished  ;  the  chalice  will  be  drunk  to  the 
dregs. 

Jesus  becomes  sad;  sad  even  unto  death!  A  sweat 
of  blood  bursts  from  His  veins,  and  flows  upon  His  mem¬ 
bers.  Exhausted,  without  strength,  He  falls  prone  upon 
the  earth,  and  He  is  in  His  agony. 

What  affright  in  the  ranks  of  the  Angels  !  Wé  all 
rose;  we  all  extended  our  hands.  Only  one  became 
visible  to  receive  Him  in  his  arms,  support  His  weary 
head,  and  strengthen  Him.f 

Sad  and  painful  honor  for  the  Angels  ! 

This  earth,  which  has  just  received  the  most  touching 


*  St.  Luke,  c.  22,  v.  41,  42. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


46 

proof  of  love  in  the  Eucharist,  and  which  is  to  have  the 
crowning  act  of  it  in  the  Passion,  this  earth  i3  mute,  in¬ 
different,  insensible.  Those  who  yet  bear  in  their  heart 
the  aliment  of  life  have  ceased  to  watch  ;  they  are  asleep  ! 

The  Angels  run  to  console  Him  who  is  their  happiness, 
fortify  Him  who  has  shared  His  strength  with  them,  sup¬ 
port  Him  who  sustains  all  beings. 

What  indulgent  goodness  for  us  !  But  with  what 
vigor  shall  we  not  defend  our  Head,  our  King,  whenever 
heaven  is  to  supply  the  place  of  the  absent  earth  ! 

The  turn  of  the  earth  will  come  ;  the  day  will  be 
when  thousands  of  souls  will  seek  the  honor  of  discharg- 
ing  the  duties  of  the  consoling  angel,  not  for  a  moment, 
but  for  all  their  life.  I  hear  them  sigh: 

uO,  Beautiful  Angel,  whose  name  we  know  not,  but 
who  must  be  of  the  choir  of  Seraphs,  thou  hast  received 
and  supported  in  thy  hands  that  divine  brow  made 
heavy  by  the  weight  of  our  crimes  !  Give  us  the  love  -, 
thou  hast,  enkindle  in  us  thy  zeal,  and  every  day  while 
the  careless  sleep,  and  the  wicked  weave  their  plots,  we 
will  come  to  the  Gethsemane  of  the  altar,  to  solace,  like 
thee,  Jesus  in  agony. 

“How  beautiful  is  the  ministry  of  the  Angels!  How 
ravishing  it  appears  to  us,  at  Bethlehem,  at  Nazareth,  in 
the  desert,  at  the  tomb  !  But  how  much  more  touching, 
and  much  more  worthy  of  envv,  it  appears  in  the  garden 
of  Olives.” 


) 


ME  MO  IB  S  OF  A  SEBAPH. 


47 


XIII. 

MORE  THAN  TWELVE  LEGIONS. 

Satan  has  not  lost  sight  of  Him  whose  mysterious 
character  he  has  not  been  able  to  penetrate.  Van¬ 
quished,  humbled  in  the  persecution  of  Herod,  in  the 
temptation  in  the  desert,  the  deliverance  of  those  pos¬ 
sessed,  the  conversion  of  sinners,  he  is  not  disconcerted, 
he  has  not  ceased  to  meditate  vengeance  ;  now  see  how 
he  is  going  to  succeed.  By  the  very  side  of  the  Re¬ 
deemed  he  has  just  found  the  help  he  needed. 

After  having  gone  over  the  earth  in  the  search  of 
souls,  Satan  anew  is  found  in  the  midst  of  men.* *  The 
very  spirit  of  hate,  he  has  taken  his  seat  at  the  feast  of 
love.  He  has  seduced  a  disciple,  an  apostle,  one  of  the 
twelve  ;  he  said  to  him:  “Here  is  the  silver,  give  me 
Jesus.  Thou  wilt  have  a  double  advantage:  thou  wilt 
have  money,  and  be  free  of  the  master.” 

The  heart  of  Judas  is  gained;  his  eyes  are  dazzled; 
he  accepts. 

He  runs  to  the  Jews  :  “What  will  you  give  me,  and 
I  will  deliver  Him  to  you.”  They  pay  him  thirty 
pieces  of  silver.f 

There  is  no  delay  :  Satan  has  entered  into  J udas  : 
Judas  has  become  the  instrument  of  Satan,  and  we 


*  Job,  c.  1,  v.  6. 

*  St.  Matt.,  c.  26.  v.  15. 


48 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


already  hear  the  seducer  cry  :  “  He  is  no  longer  Thine, 
Jesus  of  Nazareth  ;  he  is  mine,  well  mine,  mine  alone.”* 

He  takes  possession  of  his  soul,  and  commands  his  ex¬ 
terior  acts.  He  has  become  incarnate  in  him,  as  much 
as  it  is  possible,  blinding  his  spirit,  exasperating  his 
heart,  moving  his  hands,  emboldening  his  look,  dictating 
his  words,  preparing  him  for  the  kiss  of  treason. f 

The  traitor  has  received  communion  with  his  brethren, 
hut  he  has  made  no  thanksgiving,  he  has  not  prayed. 
So  Satan  has  willed.  Satan  accepts  the  chance  to  dwell 
in  a  heart  with  the  Divine  Body  of  the  Saviour.  He 
would  not  know  how  to  dwell  there,  nor  could,  if  in  it 
were  prayer  and  earnest  petition. 

Judas  and  Satan  are  but  one  ;  the  ingrate  and  the 
traitor.  The  traitor  says  to  the  Jews:  uArm  your* 
selves  with  clubs,  bring  chains,  get  torches,  and  follow 
me.  Come.  I  know  where  He  will  pray  with  his  dis¬ 
ciples.  I  will  kiss  Him.  That  will  be  the  signal.  Take 
possession  of  Him,  and  carry  Him  off.” 

Judas  enters  the  garden,  advances  towards  Jesus, 
kisses  Him,  and  says:  “Hail!  Rabbi.”  Jesus  réceives 
the  traitor  in  His  arms,  and  answers:  “Friend,  why 
comestthou?  What!  Judas,  dost  thou  betray  the  Son 
of  Man  with  a  kiss  ï  ”  J 

Satan  never  had  a  more  docile  instrument  than  Judas. 
In  a  few  moments  he  has  made  him  commit  sacrilege, 
treason,  cruelty  ;  he  only  has  to  make  himself  master  of 

*  St.  Luke,  c.  22,  v.  3.  He  came  and.  entered  into  him  and  said  :  He  is  not  thine 
0  Jesus,  but  is  mine.  (St.  Ambrose.)  These  words  signify  the  atrocity  of  the 
crime,  as  if  man  did  not  suffice  to  commit  it,  but  needed  tne  help  and  instigation 
of  the  devil.  So  great  was  this  crime  that  it  would  seem  to  be  not  of  man,  but  of 
Lucifer.  (Corn,  a  Lap  ,  on  St.  Malt.,  c.  26,  v.  14.) 

f  Then  he  rubbed  his  forehead,  and  clothed  him  with  impudence,  (rbid.) 

I  St.  Matt.,  c.  26,  v.  49,  50. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERA  P/I. 


49 


V 


him  for  all  eternity.  This  he  is  going  to  do  by  driving 
him  into  despair,  in  leading  him  to  final  impenitepce,  put¬ 
ting  into  his  heart  the  resolve  to  commit  the  greatest  and 
last  of  crimes — suicide  !  * 

The  Saviour  is  seized  and  bound.  The  disciples  wish 
to  defend  Him.  Jesus  stops  them,  and  says:  “Do 
you  think  I  could  not  ask  my  Father,  and  that  He  will 
not  send  me  more  than  twelve  legions  of  Angels?  ”  f 

Yes,  0  good  Master,  Thy  Angels  are  ready  to  fly 
to  Thy  defense — not  twelve  legions,  not  hundreds,  not 
millions,  but  millions  of  millions.  Are  we  not  Thy  sat¬ 
ellites,  Thy  guards,  Thy  armies?  Are  there  not  there 
those  who  opened  the  cataracts  of  heaven?  Those  who 
reduced  Sodom  to  ashes  ?  Those  who  slew  the  first-born 
of  Egypt?  Those  who  annihilated  the  army  of  Sen¬ 
nacherib  ?  Those  who  scourged  Heliodorus  ?  Those 
W'ho  punished  guilty  humanity  every  time  the  glory  of 
the  Most  High,  and  His  sovereign  justice,  called  for  it? 
Are  we  not  all  there,  and  have  we  not  now  the  same 
power  ?  Speak,  and,  like  a  devouring  fire,  our  zeal  will 
go  consume  traitors  and  executioners  ! 

He,  who  to  honor  us  willed  to  accept  our  aid  in  His 
agony,  does  not  accept  it  in  the  hands  of  His  execution¬ 
ers.  For  the  salvation  of  man,  the  Divine  Victim  must 
suffer  and  be  immolated. 

Before  the  eyes  of  the  Heavenly  Father  will  be  ac¬ 
complished  this  strange  drama,  which  will  reunite  in  the 
act  all  that  is  most  criminal  and  odious,  in  the  Passion  all 
that  is  most  holy  and  touching.^ 

*  St.  Matt.,  c.  27,  v.  5. 

f  St.  Matt ,  c.  26,  v.  53. 

t  The  actiou  bad,  but  the  suffering  acceptable. 


50 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


XIV. 

SUFFERING-. 

From  Gethsemane  to  Calvary,  what  poignant  scenes  ! 
Is  it  not  the  place  of  meeting  of  all  the  causes  that  pro¬ 
duce  suffering? 

In  the  body  :  the  blows  of  the  executioners,  the  bruises 
of  the  chains,  the  thorns  of  the  crown,  the  weight  of  the 
cross,  the  piercing  of  the  nails,  the  exhaustion  of  strength, 
the  burning  thirst,  the  gall. 

In  the  soul  :  outrage,  blasphemy,  the  sight  of  Mary 
in  tears,  the  abandonment  by  the  Father  m  heaven,  an 
abyss  of  sadness. 

Suffering  in  all  its  varieties  and  grades  goes  on  increas¬ 
ing  as  a  fire  that  devours  little  by  little  its  victim,  and 

es!  We  never 
suffered  them  ;  we  never  felt  their  bitterness;  but  if  we 
judge  of  them  by  their  effects  around  us,  how  terrible 
they  must  be  ! 

In  man  and  in  the  living  beings  around  him,  what  pre¬ 
caution  to  prevent  them  !  what  efforts  to  drive  them  away! 
When  unable  to  avoid  them,  every  one  lets  his  desolation 
and  his  despair  be  known. 

Since  the  day  when  we  saw  unhappy  Eve  weeping 
over  the  inanimate  body  of  Abel,  seeking  in  vain  to 
wake  from  that  strange  sleep  her  dear  child,  how  many 
tears  have  been  shed!  How  many  cries  and  sobs  we 


ends  by  killing  him. 


Suffering!  Death!  Frightful  realiti 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  51 

have  heard  !  But  never  did  we  contemplate  a  grief  like 
to  that  of  which  we  are  witnesses  to-day. 

Besides  what  the  body  of  man  can  suffer,  his  heart 
feels,  his  thought  suspects,  we  see  a  world  of  incom¬ 
prehensible  phenomena. 

In  the  Incarnate  Word  the  perfection  of  the  soul  and 
body  give  pain  a  greater  hold  :  at  the  same  time  the 
perfection  of  their  union  offers  a  stronger  resistance.  To 
produce  death  the  suffering  must  be  of  unheard  of 
violence.*  - 

How  could  the  Incarnate  Word  bear  that  excess  of 

.  /  / 

pain  ?  How  could  He  be  accessible  to  the  slightest  suf¬ 
fering  ?  Hid  not  His  soul  enjoy  the  beatific  vision? 
Hoes  not  this  vision  exclude  all  suffering  ? 

The  beatific  vision  has  not  been  suspended,  it  could 
not  be  :  but  by  a  miracle  of  divine  wisdom,  it  has  ceased 
to  produce  its  effect. 

By  another  miracle  of  divine  goodness  the  very  fruit 
of  sin  shall  be  transformed  into  a  proof  of  love,  and  will 
become  a  sure  means  of  appeasing  sovereign  justice,  j* 

The  Redeemer  goes  before  suffering  and  death  ;  He 
embraces  them,  presses  them  to  Him,  gives  Himself  up 
to  their  rigors.  .  .  Sudden  and  wonderful  trans¬ 

formation  !  At  this  divine  contact,  suffering  and  deatjh 
have  lost  their  power.  What  do  I  say  ?  >They  have  be¬ 
come  instruments  of  life  and  of  happiness. 

In  extending  its  grasp  on  Him  whose  look  gives  life  to 
worlds,  death  has  broken  its  goad,  it  will  never  more 

*  Lament.,  c.  1,  v.  12.  Both  pains  in  Christ  were  the  greatest  of  all  of  the  pres¬ 
ent  life.  (St.  Thomas,  3,  q.  4G,  art.  6.) 

t  St.  Paul,  i  Cor.,  c.  15,  v.  55. 


52 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


inflict  irreparable  wounds..  The  poison  of  the  serpent 
will  become  a  precious  remedy  against  its  wounds.* 

At  the  sight  of  all  these  contrasts  the  angelic  world  is 
filled  with  admiration,  mingled  with  stupor.  Wisdom, 
justice,  love  offer  us  in  this  depths  we  cannot  measure. 

*  Nay,  ev*  n  the  remedy  of  sin  is  from  sin  itself,  for  instance  from  the  consid¬ 
eration  of  degradation  and  harm  of  sin,  as  St.  Paul,  St.  M.  Magdalen,  and  other 
penitents  and  sinners  sought  it.  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  on  Ecclesiastic  us ,  c.  33,  v.  15.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


53 


XV. 

IT  IS  CONSUMMATED. 

• 

At  the  moment  the  Redeemer  is  elevated  between 
heaven  and  earth,  with  outspread  wings  we  veil  the  face 
of  the  sun  and  produce,  at  mid-day,  a  depressing  night. 

The  hours  of  this  night  for  us  are  ages.  Had  it  not 
been  for  the  divine  vision,  it  seems  to  us  that  grief  would 
have  taken  possession  of  us,  and  we  too  would  have  fallen 
at  the  foot  of  the  cross,  overcome. 

From  the  bottom  of  Ilis  heart  the  Son  of  God  sends 
down  upon  men  the  last  outpouring  of  His  tenderness, 
and  offers  up  to  His  Father  His  bitter  lament,  followed 
immediately  by  loving  confidence. 

From  the  moment  the  cry  resounded,  prelude  of  the  last 
sigh,  and  the  adorable  Victim  proffered  the  words  that 
closed  the  Passion:  It  is  consummated!  we  saw  Satan 
disappear,  like  lightning,  in  the  darkness  of  the  abyss.* 

In  the  depths  of  hell,  in  the  heights  of  the  heavens,  at 
every  point  of  creation,  we  heard  the  echoes  tell  again 
of  the  consummation  of  the  love  of  God,  and  of  the  hatred 
of  men. 

At  this  divine  cry  we  shook  the  earth  to  its  centre  ;  by 
our  hands,  the  veil  of  the  temple  was  rent,f  the  rocks 
were  split,  tombs  were  opened,  the  dead  came  to  frighten 


*  St.  Luke,  c.  10,  v.  18. 

f  St.  Matt.,  c.  27,  v.  51-53.  The  honor  of  the  veil  is  taken  away  with  the  guard 
ianship  of  the  angel.  (St.  Hilary.) 


54 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


the  living;  the  pagan  himself  recognized  and  gave  wit¬ 
ness  of  the  unwonted  crisis  of  the  universe,  and  cried  out: 
“Either  the  God  of  nature  suffers,  or  the  structure  of  the 
world  is  giving  away.”  * 

Thou  hast  then,  0  our  Divine  King,  suffered  pain  and 
died  in  it,  and  this  pain  and  death  Thou  didst  undergo  for 
the  love  of  man,  in  every  way  that  is  most  frightful. 

We  are  not  jealous  of  this  ;  we  exult  with  joy,  we 
render  to  Thee  thanks  eternally.  Man  is  so  dear  to  us, 
that  we  regard  as  done  to  us  that  which  is  wrought  in  his 
favor,  f 

But,  behold!  in  return  for  the  infinite  love  that  Thou 
hast  shown  him,  man  himself  will  suffer  and  die  for  love 
of  Thee.  Clad  in  the  livery  of  devotion,  he  will  be  Thy 
soldier,  and  Thy  hero  ;  he  will  combat  to  the  shedding  of 
his  blood,  and  will  merit  the  aureola  of  martyrdom. J 

We  reserve  to  ourselves  the  honor  of  preparing  for 
Thy  athletes  their  crowns  and  palms.  This  honor  is 
great;  we  accept  it  with  joyful  gratitude. 

There  however  is  an  honor,  0  King  of  Ages,  Thy 
Angels  have  more  eagerly  wished  for — that  of  having  a 
body,  as  man  has,  that  would  permit  them  to  suffer  and 
to  die  for  Thy  love. 

Since  we  have  assisted  at  Thy  holocaust,  our  supreme 
joy  would  be  to  be  able  to  offer  Thee,  no  longer  in  the 
name  of  men,  but  in  our  own  name,  a  tear,  one  drop  of 
blood,  one  pang,  an  agony,  a  last  breath. || 

*  Either  the  God  of  nature  suffers,  or  the  machinery  of  the  world  is  going  to 
pieces.  ( Life  of  St.  Denys,  the  Areopagite.) 

f  Chr'st  did  not  die  for  the  angels,  but  therefore  whatever  by  His  death  is 
redeemed  for  man,  is  done  also  for  the  angels.  (St.  Aug  ,  Enchiridion ,  c.  1C  ) 

J  The  flesh  is  afflicted  with  punishment,  having  striven  to  make  a  return  to 
Christ  by  dying  for  Him.  (Tutall.,  De  Resurrect.,  8.) 

||  So  glorious  is  it  to  suffer  and  die  for  God  that  the  angels  vehemently  desire 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


55 


For  all  eternity  man  will  have  the  advantage  over  us 
of  having  been  able  to  offer  Thee  tear  for  tear,  blood  for 
blood,  pain  for  pain,  life  for  life,  death  for  death. 

In  clothing  Thyself  with  flesh,  Thou  hast  become  man, 
and  Thou  hast  dwelt  among  men.  In  despoiling  himself 
of  the  flesh,  he  will  become  a  pure  spirit  so  as  to  dwell 
in  Thee.* * 

Confessor  of  the  faith;  captive  of  Jesus  Christ;  man, 
my  brother,  art  thou  tired  of  suffering?  0!  take  my 
wings,  and  give  me  thy  chains. 

But  no.  Paul  holds  to  his  chains,  as  Andrew  to  his 
cross,  as  Lawrence  to  his  gridiron,  as  Ignatius  to  the 
beasts  of  the  arena.  All,  like  Chrysostom,  have  under¬ 
stood  that,  under  the  reign  of  the  Crucified,  the  instru¬ 
ment  of  punishment  is  more  honorable  and  valuable  than 
the  wings  of  an  angel. f  > 


to  have  bodies  which  may  hear  suffering  for  the  honor  of  God.  And  if  those 
blessed  spirits  were  capable  of  envy,  they  would  be  jealous  of  man’s  happiness 
in  suffering  for  God.  (Vivien,  Angelus.) 

*The  Word  was  made  Flesh  and  dwelt  amongst  us:  make  a  return;  be  spir¬ 
itual  and  dwell  in  Him.  (St.  Aug.  Letter  to  Honorât.) 

f  If  any  one  would  place  me  among  angels,  or  with  Paul  in  chains,  I  would 
choose  prison.  If  any  one  would  make  me  one  of  the  Powers  around  the  heav¬ 
ens,  or  the  Thrones,  or  such  a  prisoner,  I  would  prefer  to  be  such  a  prisoner. 
(St.  Chrysostom,  on  Epistle  to  Ephesians,  Horn.  8.) 


56 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


XVI. 

THE  DIVINE  TREASURE. 

In  the  three  days  during  which  the  Redeemer  remained 
the  subject  of  death,  we  were  placed  as  guards  of  His 
body  and  of  His  blood. 

We  required  the  blood  of  the  Passion  of  Gethsemane, 
of  the  streets  of  Jerusalem,  of  the  rocks  of  Calvary;  we 
gathered  it  from  the  bonds,  the  scourges,  the  column,  the 
reed,  the  thorns,  the  nails,  the  lance,  the  cross,  the  seam¬ 
less  garment  of  the  Saviour,  the  linen  of  Veronica,  the 
clothing  of  the  soldiers. 

The  blood  we  received  in  deposit  ;  *  we  preserved  it, 
adoring  it  as  the  ransom  of  the  human  race — the  ran¬ 
som  paid  to  sovereign  justice  by  sovereign  mercy.  It 
flowed  in  the  ardor  of  love.  The  chill  of  death  has  not 
lessened  its  warmth.  It  will  remain  such  as  we  have 
gathered  it,  such  as  it  sprang  from  His  veins,  in  the  very 
act  of  holocaust,  f 

We  see  in  it  shining  the  fire  of  charity,  the  flame  of 
zeal,  the  grace  of  time,  the  glories  of  eternity. 

Depositaries  of  the  Divine  Blood,  we  guard  also  the 
Divine  Body  of  the  Redeemer.  We  are  there  around 
the  Body,  prostrate  in  adoration,  embalming  it  with  our 

affection,  more  sweetly  than  the  holy  women  with  their 
perfumes  ;  enveloping  it  as  with  a  sacred  veil,  with  the 

*  F.  Faber,  The  Precious  Blood. 

f  After  being  shed,  that  Blood  remained  vivifying.  (Clem.  Sixth,  In  Inqui- 
siiorio.) 


< 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  57 

mellowed  light  that  comes  from  our  wings  outspread  upon 
the  Sepulchre.* 

In  the  wounds  man  will  be  unable  to  count,  we  see 
engraved  the  masterpiece  of  divine  love.f  What  humil¬ 
iation  in  the  sight  of  man  ?  It  is  the  obscurity  and  igno¬ 
miny  of  the  worm  of  the  earth.  But  to  our  eyes,  what 
beauty!  what  splendor!  ’Tis  love  has  thus  transfigured 
it.  Love  has  clothed  it  with  this  new  brilliancy. 

Welcomed,  and  conducted  by  love,  suffering  has  gone 
even  to  the  door  of  death. 

Death,  in  striking,  has  well  been  able  to  separate  the 
soul  from  the  body,  but  it  has  not  been  able  to  divide  the 
Divinity  either  from  the  body  or  the  soul.  In  the  one  as 
in  the  other  we  adore  the  Divinity  present,  enchained  by 
the  indissoluble  eternal  pact  concluded  at  the  moment  of 
the  Incarnation.  J 

During  these  three  days,  we  contemplated  a  wonderful 
occurrence,  that  neither  Angels  nor  men  had  ever  seen, 
and  which  will  never  be  seen  again:  a  God  living  in 
heaven  and  dead  on  earth  ;  the  Redeemer  living  by  means 
of  His  divinity,  while  He  has  ceased  to  live  in  His  hu¬ 
manity. 

At  the  moment  when  the  return  to  life  is  to  take  place, 
we  shall  give  up  our  double  deposit.  We  shall  restore 

*  There  is  no  doubt  several  angels  were  present,  and  for  three  days  guarded 
the  sepulchre,  and  adored  the  Sacred  Body  of  Christ,  as  united  hypostatically 
with  the  Deity.  (Corn,  a  Lapid.  on  St.  Matth.,  c.  28.) 

f  See  how  in  the  whole  Body  is  the  stamp  of  love.  (St.  Bernard.) 

X  Theologians  teach  that  the  Blood  of  Christ,  shed  at  the  Passion,  was  not 
separated  from  the  Divinity,  but  this  remained  united  hypo  tatically  with  the 
Blood  as  with  the  Body;  the  Blood  of  Christ  wa  the  just  and  sufficient  price  for 
our  sins,  because  it  was  the  Blood  of  a  Divine  Person,  that  is,  the  Word  who  is 
of  divine  dignity.  If,  therefore,  it  had  ceased  to  be  united  by  being  poured  out, 
it  would  no  longer  have  been  a  worthy  offering.  (Corn,  a  Lap'de,  on  Si.  Peter, 
i.,  c.  1.,  v.  19.) 


58 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


to  that  exhausted  Body  all  its  Bloqd.  United  to  the  soul 
anew  in  its  fulness,  this  Body  will  come  to  life.  For  It 
and  for  the  soul,  there  will  begin  a  life  of  happiness  and 
of  glory,  the  image  of  the  new  life  purchashed  for  men 
by  the  Passion  and  the  Death  of  the  Redeemer.* 


*  Whatever  belongs  to  the  nature  of  a  human  body  was  entirely  in  the  body 
of  Christ  rising  from  the  dead.  It  is  manifest  that  to  a  body  belong  flesh,  bones, 
blood  and  other  like  things.  And  therefore  all  these  were  in  Christ’s  body  v^ien 
He  rose,  integrally,  without  diminution  ;  otherwise  there  would  not  have  been 
perfect  resurrection  if  that  had  not  been  restored  which  had  fal  en  through 
death.  ...  It  is  to  be  said  that,  all  the  blood  flowed  from  the  body  of  Christ 
fit  rose  in  the  body  of  Christ,  since  it  pertains  to  the  verity  of  human  nature.  . 
. .  . .)  That  blood  which  is  preserved  in  some  churches  as  relics,  did  not  flow 
from  the  side  of  Christ,  but  is  said  to  have  miraculously  flowed  from  an  image 
of  Christ  which  had  been  struck.  (St.  Thomas,  3,  q.  54,  art.  2.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


59 


XVII. 

THE  BLESSED  PRISON. 

The  Redeemer  could  scarcely  brook  the  delay  in  an¬ 
nouncing  to  the  souls  of  the  just  the  approach  of  their 
deliverance.  Immediately  after  Ilis  last  sigh,  He  directed 
His  way  to  the  sojourn  they  inhabited:  He  descended 
into  Limbo.* 

Limbo  !  Blessed  prison,  happy  vestibule,  heaven 
below,  temporary  home,  where  the  days  go  by  without 
fear  under  the  unshaken  reign  of  sweet  hope  ! 

We  accompany  the  Divine  Visitor;  we  even  precede 
Him,  honored  in  opening  before  Him  this  beautiful  so¬ 
journ. 

He  has  made  us  the  keepers  not  only  of  heaven,  but 
also  of  each  of  the  stations  that  are  on  the  way  to  it. 

These  dear  souls  salute  their  Liberator  with  every 
transport  of  joy.  They  contemplate  without  the  inter¬ 
mediate  use  of  any  body  this  incomparable  soul  united 
to  the  Divinity. 

They  prostrate  themselves  in  adoration,  rise  and  repeat 
again  their  canticles  of  earth,  with  that  accent,  already 
heavenly,  which  the  absolute  certainty  of  their  approach¬ 
ing  happiness  gives  them.f 

*  8t.  Peter  i,  c.  3,  v.  19.  He  descended  to  hell.  (Apost.  Creed.)  As  soon  as 
Christ  expired,  He  descended  with  His  soul  into  the  Limbo  of  the  Fathers,  and 
manifested  to  them  His  Deity.  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  on  St.  Matth.,  c.  27,  v.  60.) 

f  And  falling  they  adored,  and  rising  they  stood  before  him  in  hymns  and 
canticles  with  reverence  and  great  exaltation.  (Corn,  a  Lap.) 


60 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


We  mingle  our  chants  with  theirs,  and  we  continue  to 
excite  them  to  praise.*  From  the  time  they  left  the 
earth,  our  relations  with  them  never  ceased.  We  had 
the  delightful  mission  of  revealing  to  them  the  events 
occurring  after  their  death  and  of  interest  in  them. 

We  have  made  known  to  them  up  to  this  day  all  the 
life  of  the  Saviour. 

We  have  spoken  also  to  them  of  Mary.  With  what 
avidity  did  the  prophets  and  patriarchs  receive  what  we 
told  them  of  the  greatness  and  of  the  beauty  of  her  soul, 
of  her  sorrows,  of  her  courage,  of  her  resignation,  of 
her  immense  goodness,  of  her  perfection  equal  to  her 
dignity  ! 

To  hear  speak  of  Mary  and  of  her  Divine  Son  was  to 
them  so  sweet,  that  it  already  seemed  as  if  they  were  in 
heaven.  * 

The  apparition  of  the  Saviour  in  Limbo  will  not  he 
rapid  and  passing;  it  will  last  till  the  dawn  of  the  third 
day. 

Under  his  eye,  the  association  we  had  already  formed 
with  the  elect,  and  which  will  continue  in  heaven,  becomes 
more  intimate.  Formerly  we  would  show  ourselves  to 
them  in  borrowed  bodies  ;  to-day  they  see  us  without  any 
material  medium,  and  with  far  different  aspect. 

Wei  appeared  to  Adam  without  the  sword  of  fire  and 
without  threats  ;  to  Moses  without  thunder  and  lightning  ; 
to  Abraham  without  evidence  of  weariness  or  foreign 
appearance  ;  to  Agar,  to  Joshue,  to  Daniel,  to  Ezekiel,  to 
holy  Joachim,  to  St.  Anne,  to  St.  Joseph,  to  the  Holy 
Innocents,  without  mysterious  figures.  And  we  said  to 


*In  the  presence  of  a  multitude  of  angels  exulting  and  rejoicing  with  them. 
(Corn,  a  Lap.) 


\ 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


til 


all  these  just  ones  and  friends  of  God,  known  or  unknown 
on  earth:  “The  Redeemer  whom  you  expected,  behold! 
here  He  is  !” 

We  have  heard  His  last  sigh  on  the  Cross.  We  have 
gone  down  with  His  Body  to  the  tomb,  and  with  His  soul 
to  Limbo.  We  shall  be  inseparable  from  His  adorable 
humanity.  Wherever  Jesus  goes,  we  shall  follow.  We 
were  with  Him  in  His  humiliation,  in  His  suffering,  in  His 
death  we  were  with  Him.  We  shall  likewise  be  with 
Him  in  His  triumph  and  in  His  glory.  Everywhere  shall 
we  be  His  escort  ;  we  shall  always  be  at  His  command. 


62 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


jf  ■ 

'  ,  XVIII. 

# 

THE  RESURRECTION. 

Glory  be  to  Thee,  0  Lord,  and  a  thousand  thanks¬ 
givings  be  offered  Thee  !  Thou  hast  deigned  to  call  us 
to  be  witnesses  of  Thy  Resurrection,  and  make  us  share 
in  the  wonders  that  accompanied  it. 

Thou  who  didst  raise  up  Lazarus,  the  daughter  of  the 
head  of  the  synagogue,  the  son  of  the  widow  of  Nairn, 
the  former  dwellers  in  Jerusalem,  and  art,  at  the  end  of 
the  world,  to  resuscitate  all  the  dead,  Thou  didst  raise 
Thyself  up  on  the  third  day. 

Prodigy  all  divine,  in  which  no  creature  could  have 
part  !  But  to  the  happy  are  the  accessory  parts  re¬ 
served. 

At  the  first  glimmer  of  dawn  the  stone  still  closed  the 
sepulchre.  We  rolled  it  away;  we  revealed  the  interior 
of  that  tomb  empty,  and  we  announced  the  triumph  of  the 
Master  of  life  and  of  death,  imparting  universal  commo¬ 
tion  to  the  ear.h.* 

The  tomb  which  was  the  throne  of  a  God  dead,  has 
become  by  the  resurrection  the  witness  of  His  glory  ;  it 
is  brilliant  with  light,  and  will  be  forever  glorious. 

Should  it  fall  one  day  into  the  hands  of  unbelievers, 
immense  armies  will  depart  from  far-off  shores  to  come 
avenge  its  profanation. 

*St.  Matth.,  c.  28,  v.  2,  3. 


I 


« 


MEMOIRS  01  A  SERAPH,  68 

Powerful  princes  of  the  earth  will  hold  it  an  honor  to 
visit  it,  and  will  endeavor  to  procure  for  the  faithful  free 
access  to  it. 

We  have  been  constituted  its  guardians  to-day,  and  all 
heaven  has  been  convoked  to  be  its  ornament. 

When  the  holy  women  arrive,  bringing  perfumes,  they 
bow  down  and  see  within  two  Angels  in  white  garments, 
with  a  look  as  of  fire.  In  the  raiment  and  upon  the 
countenance  of  the  representatives  of  the  court  of  heaven, 
everything  is  a  symbol  of  life  and  joy. 

At  the  sight  of  them  the  holy  women  are  affrighted, 
and  remain  with  downcast  eyes.  The  Angels  say  to 
them:  “Why  seek  ye  the  living  among  the  dead?  He 
is  not  here  ;  see  the  place  where  they  laid  Him  ;  He  is 
risen.  Remember  what  He  said  to  you  before:  It  must 
needs  be  that  the  Son  of  Man  be  given  over  into  the 
hands  of  sinners,  that  He  be  crucified,  and  that  He  rise 
again  the  third  day.”* 

We  have  then  been  the  witnesses  and  the  first  pro¬ 
claimed  of  the  Resurrection  of  the  Saviour.  Oyr  coun¬ 
tenance,  for  a  moment  clouded,  has  regained  its  bright¬ 
ness.  We  contemplate  our  Chief  radiant  with  glory  and 
immortality.  We  accompany  wherever  He  goes  the  God 
dead,  who  has  become  the  God  living  ;  in  heaven  and  on 
earth,  we  fill  everything  with  our  songs  of  gladness. 

The  joyous  alleluia  which  the  great  prophet  of  Patmos 
will  one  day  hear,  has  commenced,  not  to  end: 

“Alleluia,  for  the  Almighty,  the  Lord  our  God,  has 
reigned.  The  Lamb  that  has  been  offered  up  is  worthy 
to  have  virtue,  divinity,  and  wisdom,  and  honor,  and 
glory,  and  benediction. f 


*  St.  Luke,  c.  24,  v.  3-7. 
f  Apoc.,  c.  19,  y.  6.  St.  Luke,  c.  5,  v.  11,  12. 


I 


64  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

“Glory  to  God!  for  the  grain  hidden  three  days  in  the 
earth  has  just  burst  forth  into  life.  It  has  put  forth  its 
stem,  it  has  grown,  and  the  luxury  of  its  glorious  vege¬ 
tation,  overshadowing  everything  in  creation,  announces 
that  it  bore  in  itself  a  germ  truly  divine. 

“  Glory  to  God!  for  the  wondrous  phoenix  has  just  re¬ 
sumed  its  flight,  as  a  whole  nation  gazed  on  it  lifeless 
upon  its  pyre.  It  has  taken  again  its  flight,  it  has  pierced 
the  cloud,  and  the  whole  universe,  admiring  the  sublimity 
of  its  ascent,  has  proclaimed  it  truly  divine. 

“Glory  to  God!  for  the  giant,  for  an  instant  thrown  to 
the  earth  by  death,  has  by  his  own  strength  risen  up.  He 
is  on  his  feet,  he  has  regained  his  firm  attitude,  and  the 
power  he  has  manifested  against  an  adversary  hitherto 
invincible,  has  revealed  an  arm  truly  divine. 

“  Glory  to  God  !  for  the  prophetic  words  that  told  of  an 
awakening  from  the  tomb,  have  thus  just  been  fulfilled. 
They  are  accomplished,  and  the  event  itself,  celebrated 
in  heaven  and  on  earth,  proclaimed  these  prophecies  truly 
divine. 

“  Glory  to  God!  Alleluia!’’ 

This  is  the  hymn  the  Church  will  take  from  the  Angels, 
which  she  will  repeat  each  year,  on  awaking  on  Easter- 
morn,  which  she  will  sing  with  full  voice,  and  overflowing 
heart,  to  the  end  of  time,  and  which  the  elect  and  the 
Angels  will  take  up  and  continue  throughout  eternity. 


i 


•  V 


I 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  65 


\ 


XIX. 

THE  ASCENSION. 

The  Divine  Master  has  led  His  disciples  to  the  Mount, 
the  theatre,  not  long  since,  of  His  agony  and  of  His  suf¬ 
fering.  There,  while  once  again  He  blesses  them  and 
bids  them  meet  at  the  cenacle,  harmonious  expressions  of 
joy  burst  forth  from  the  Angels  of  heaven  and  those  of 
earth,  in  which  all  take  part. 

On  earth:  Open  your  gates,  0  princes  of  heaven. 
Eternal  portals,  be  ye  lifted  up:  ’t is  the  King  of  glory 
comes,  and  is  about  to  enter.* 

,  i  • 

In  heaven:  Who  is  this  King  of  glory  who  cometh 
up  from  regions  below  ?  Tell  us  His  origin,  His  great¬ 
ness,  His  nobility,  Ilis  great  deeds,  His  titles. f 

On  earth  :  *T  is  the  Eternal  Son  of  the  Eternal  King 
of  ages,t  the  Word  Incarnate,  the  God  made  Man,  the 
Redeemer  of  the  world,  the  Saviour  of  men,  Jesus,  King 
of  men  and  of  Angels. 

In  heaven  :  May  He  come  ;  let  Him  hasten  ;  we  are 
impatient  to  see,  in  the  bosom  of  His  Father,  at  His 
right  hand,  and  upon  His  throne,  that  adorable  Human¬ 
ity  before  which  we  shall  love  to  prostrate  ourselves. 

*Ps.  23,  v.  7.  Seeing  the  spoils  of  the  Eternal  Victor  in  triumph,  as  if  the 
gates  of  heaven  were  rot  great  enough  to  admit  Him,  although  the  heavens  can 
never  contain  His  majesty,  they  seek  another  way  for  Him  as  He  returns.  (S 
Ambrose.) 

fPs.  23,  v.  10. 

JIbid. 


66 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAFH. 


On  earth  :  He  comes,  bringing  souls  that  He  has  pur¬ 
chased  with  His  Blood.  He  has  burst  the  bonds  that 
kept  them  captive,  arid  has  given  them  their  liberty.* 

In  heaven  :  Let  those  dear  souls  come  quickly,  our 
sisters  henceforth.  Let  them  hasten  to  occupy  the  bril¬ 
liant  places  left  empty  in  our  ranks  by  the  fall  of  the 
rebels. 

On  earth:  The  rebels,  stones  dead  and  indocile,  have 
been  crowded  into  the  place  of  eternal  rejection.  Neither 
Satan  nor  his  demons  shall  enter  into  the  immortal  edi¬ 
fice  of  the  City  of  God. 

In  heaven:  The  ruins  of  Sion  are  to  be  rebuilt. 
Christ  will  be  the  corner-stone  upon  which  one  by  one, 
in  the  course  of  time,  the  living  stones  will  be  laid. 

On  earth  :  Lo  !  in  one  day  the  virtues  of  ancient  Is¬ 
rael  are  recompensed.  ’Tis  the  great  feast,  the  birthday 
of  the  patriarchs,  of  the  prophets,  of  all  the  saints  of  the 
Old  Law. 

In  heaven:  Till  now  the  abode  of  glory  has  shone 
with  the  beauties  of  innocence.  The  thousand  varieties 
of  virtues,  the  fruit  of  penance,  and  its  attendants,  will 
bring  new  beauty  to  heaven. 

On  earth:  Christ  bears  in  Him  the  first  fruits  of  the 
universe.  Hitherto  Divine  goodness  has  only  sown:  to¬ 
day  it  reaps.  It  celebrates  with  us  the  feast  of  the  first 
offerings  and  of  the  first  harvest.  » 

In  heaven:  Yes,  to-day  heaven  is  going  to  receive  its 
first  offering  from  earth.  In  the  communications  of  past 

*  Ephesians,  c.  4,  v.  8.  Wherefore  He  brought  with  Him  for  His  triumph  all 
the  souls  of  the  Fathers  and  Patriarchs  whom  He  had  led  forth  from  Limbo. 
(Corn,  a  Lap.  on  the  Acts,  c.  1,  v.  9.) 


i 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  67 

times  heaven  descended  to  earth;  in  its  turn,  at  last 
earth  mounts  to  heaven.* 

On  earth  :  Self-humiliation,  suffering,  death,  have 
triumphed  over  Satan.  The  same  arms  will  always  ob¬ 
tain  the  same  victories. 

In  heaven  :  In  the  absence  of  the  Master,  what  is  to 
become  of  those  weak  disciples  His  presence  alone  sus¬ 
tained  ? 

On  earth:  The  Master  has  not  abandoned  Ilis  disci¬ 
ples;  He  is  in  them  hv  His  Spirit,  and  clothes  them  with 
strength  ;  He  is  with  them  by  the  Eucharist,  and  consoles 
them. 

In  heaven:  In  presence  of  the  new  victories  of  the 
Word  Incarnate,  what  has  Lucifer  become  ? 

On  earth:  His  audacity  has  been  followed  by  hitter 
confusion.  Recognizing  in  glory  Him  he  had  tempted 
in  humiliation,  seeing  uncovered  and  face  to  face  his  ad¬ 
versary  of  the  first  day,  he  has  plunged  again  into  the 
abyss. 

In  heaven:  Angels  of  earth,  extend  your  -wings  and 
bear  aloft  the  Son  of  God  as  you  bore  Enoçh.  Seraphs, 
with  your  fire,  prepare  a  flaming  chariot  for  Him  of 
whom  Elias  was  an  image. 

On  earth:  In  His  ascent,  the  Incarnate  Word  needs 
not  the  strength  of  another  :  He  will  mount  by  His  own 
power.  *  ’Tis  ours,  0  Angels  and  Souls!  to  form  for 
Him  an  escort  of  honor. 

In  heaven:  Jesus  raises  Himself  heavenward,  enters 

*  Christ  ascending  into  heaven  offered  to  the  Father  the  first  fruits  of  our  na¬ 
ture,  and  the  Father  was  in  wonder  at  the  gift  offered,  because  one  of  such  dig¬ 
nity  made  the  offer,  and  because  what  was  offered  was  without  spot.  (St.  J. 
Chrysostom,  Serm.  on  the  Ascension.)  Christ  raised  earth  to  heaven.  (St.  Aug., 
Serm.  on  the  Ascension.) 


\ 


68  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

into  a  cloud,  traverses  the  air,  penetrates  the  heavens.  . 
.  .  .  .  Unique  moment  of  eternity!  Inauguration  of  a 
new  era  of  happiness  and  of  glory  !  The  rampart  has 
fallen  ;  the  tribe  of  Angels  and  that  of  men  are  reiinited. 
They  have  but  the  same  King  ;  they  form  but  the  one 
city. 

On  earth  :  Clothed  as  at  the  Resurrection,  in  white 
garments  of  joy,  we  said  to  the  disèiples:  Why  do  you 
remain  looking  up  to  heaven?  This  same  Jesus  will  de¬ 
scend  again  one  day,  as  you  have  seen  Him  ascend.”  * 

In  heaven:  And  in  the  heavens  resounded  the  eternal 
canticle  :  “  He  is  worthy,  the  Lamb  that  has  been  slain, 
to  receive  the  homage  due  to  virtue,  to  wisdom,  to  cour¬ 
age,  to  honor,  to  glory.  To  Him  be  all  benediction  and 
adoration  due  the  Divinity. 

*  Acts,  c.  1,  v.  9-11. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


69 


» 

xx. 

HEAVEN  AND  THE  HOLT  EUCHARIST. 

What  joy  to  the  Angels  of  heaven  to/  have  received 
into  glory  the  Word  Incarnate!  What  joy  for  those  of 
earth  to  have  kept  Him  under  Eucharistic  veils  !  Hear 
them  celebrate,  in  rivalry,  His  presence  in  these  two 
states,  and  make  the  parallel  of  heaven  and  earth. 

Heaven  :  In  glory  we  possess  the  ^dorable  humanity 
of  the  Redeemer.  We  have  nothing  to  envy  earth. 
But  how  will  the  earth  console  itself  for  being  deprived 
of  it  ?  What  a  sad  place  of  sojourn  since  the  Incarnate 
Word  has  ascended  to  His  Father!  Ye  Angels,  our 
brethren,  what  attraction  can  still  keep  you  there  ? 

Angels  of  the  Eucharist:  The  earth  was  not  disin¬ 
herited  at  the  Ascension.  The  Incarnate  Word  is  no 
longer  visible  to  the  eyes  of  men,  but  It  is  in  the  midst 
of  them;  He  is  as  really  there  as  in  heaven;  He  is  there 
with  His  body,  His  blood,  His  soul,  His  divinity.  We 
possess,  as  you  do,  the  Redeemer. 

Heaven:  We  contemplate  Him  in  all  His  splendor. 
We  see  Him  face  to  face,  without  intermediary.  He 
penetrates  and  inundates  us  with  His  light.  We  veil 
ourselves  with  our  wings,  not  being  able  to  bear  the  bril¬ 
liancy  of  the  rays  that  dart  from  His  brow. 

Angels  of  the  Eucharist:  Through  the  veil  of  the 
Sacramental  species  we  admire  the  smiling  countenance 
of  the  Saviour,  as  in  the  crystal  of  the  lakes  men  con- 


70 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


template  the  softened  reflection  '  of  the  sun.  But  we 
have  the  reality,  not  simply  the  image. 

Heaven:  We  see  the  Lamb  erect  and  conquering, 
bearing  in  the  luminous  scars  of  His  wounds  the  witness 
of  His  victories  over  the  enemy  and  of  his  love  for  men.* 
Angels  of  the  Eucharist:  It  is  the  same  Lamb,  but 
in  a  condition  of  immolation,  as  on  Calvary.  At  the  all- 
powerful  word  of  the  priest,  the  bread  is  changed  into 
His  body,  the  wine  into  His  blood,  and  although  the 
blood  flows  not,  the  sacrifice  is  consummated,  and  con¬ 
tains  all  the  treasures  of  the  bloody  oblation. 

Heaven:  In  the  company  of  the  virgins,  we  follow 

the  Lamb,  we  go  whithersoever  He  goeth  in  the  spaces  of 
glory.  It  is  the  privilege  reserved  to  His  intimate 
friends,  to  those  who  reflect  the  most  faithfully  the  beauty 
and  goodness  of  His  heart. f 

Angels  of  the  Eucharist:  We  follow  Him,  whitherso¬ 
ever  His  love  leads  us  :  upon  the  altars,  in  tabernacles, 
on  the  lips  of  the  child,  in  the  heart  of  the  dying  man, 
in  all  pure  souls.  As  you,  when  we  prostrate  ourselves 
around  Him,  we  are  in  the  company  of  virgin  souls.  He 
inspires  them,  as  too  His  Angels,  with  an  irresistible 
attraction  for  Himself. 

Heaven:  The  unfathomable  mystery  of  His  glory 
offers  itself  to  our  perpetual  admiration.  How  can  a 
glory  all  divine  thus  shine  forth  in  a  soul  and  in  a  body! 

Angels  of  the  Eucharist:  To  our  eyes  there  is  a  won¬ 
der  no  less  great.  How  can  He  who  is  the  author  and 
the  principle  of  glory,  surround  Himself  with  such  ob¬ 
scurity  ?  How  can  such  deep  obscurity  find  access  to 


*  Apoc.,  c.  5,  v.  6. 
fAnop  o,  14,  y.  4. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  71 

Him  who  is  the  Divine  Word  and  the  splendor  of  the 
Father? 

Ileaven:  We  contemplate  the  adorable  Humanity 
only  by  intellectual  light;  When  the  souls  shall  have 
been  united  to  their  transformed  bodies,  the  saints  will 
contemplate  it  with  their  material  eyes,  and  experience 
emotions  unknown  to  pure  spirits. 

Angels  of  the  Eucharist:  We  approach  tremblingly 
a  God  who  has  humbled  Himself  through  His  love.  We 
are  not  the  ministers  of  this  great  mystery;  we  do  not, 
like  the  priest,  consecrate  that  Body  and  that  Blood; 
we  do  not  receive  them  in  ourselves  ;  we  adore  them  with 
respectful  awe.  What  an  honor,  whefi  it  is  sometimes 
given  us  to  hold  the  Chalice  or  Host  in  our  hands,  and 
present  it  to  men? * 

All  the  Angels:  When  the  generations  of  men  shall 
have  been  exhausted,  and  the  terrestrial  globe  shall  be 
on  the  point  of  being  renewed  by  fire,  shall  we  not  see 
Thee,  0  Divine  Word!  surrounded  by  Angels,  accom¬ 
panied  by  Thy  holy  priests,  come  take  on  the  last  Altar, 
the  last  Host,  to  bring  It  in  triumph  to  glory,  and  pre¬ 
pare  us  thus  the  eternal  joy  of  seeing  united  Heaven  and 
the  Eucharist  ? 

The  Divine  Word:  In  a  happy  eternity  all  will  be 
glorious.  There  will  be  no  obscurity,  no  self-abasement  ; 
but  each  mystery  of  My  love  will  there  remain  living.  I 
shall  know  how  to  give  then  to  my  Angels  and  to  my 
Priests,  to  all  the  devoted  adorers  of  my  Body  and  of  my 
Blood,  a  memorial  which  will  be  the  best  reward  of  their 
love,  and  in  which  they  will  find  eternally  united  Heaven 
and  the  Eucharist. 


♦Lives  of  Sts.  Alpaix,  Columba,  Juliana,  Ozanne,  Mark  the  Solitary,  Veronica 
of  Milan,  Benignus,  and  Stanislaus  Kostka. 


]  v 

BOOK  THE  SIXTH. 


RELATIONS  OF  THE  ANGELS  WITH  THE 

MOTHER  OF  GOD. 


I. 

PROPHETIC  VISIONS.  ' 

The  centre  of  our  affections,  in  time,  is  the  Word  In¬ 
carnate.  To  Him  go  forth  our  thoughts,  our  wills,  our 
hearts.  But  our  affections  for  the  Word  Incarnate  are 
poured  out  upon  those  who  are  connected  with  Him,  in 
proportion  to  the  nearness  of  theii\ union  with  Him. 

What  being  is  more  intimately  united  with  Jesus  than 
His  mother?  After  Jesus,  Mary  then  will  be  the  first 
object  of  our  affections. 

From  the  instant  when  we  began  to  combat  for  the 
Word  against  Lucifer,  we  thought  of  the  creature  des- 
tined  to  become  the  mother  of  God.  We  had  in  view 
her  glory  ;  we  ranged  ourselves  under  her  standard  ;  we 
congratulated  ourselves  on  having  been  admitted  to  the 
honor  of  defending  her.* 

In  the  midst  of  the  pleasures  of  heaven  her  image 
came  to  rejoice  our  eyes.  She  appeared  to  us  crowned 
with  stars,  clothed  with  the  sun,  having  the  moon  under 

*It  is  very  probable  that  even  in  the  time  of  trial  the  angels  had  some  knowl¬ 
edge  of  Mary.  (Suarez,  1.  6,  c.  5,  no.  10.) 

(72) 


V 


i 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


73 


her  feet.  Before  her  the  Dragon  placed  himself,  ready 
to  devour  the  Infant  to  which  she  was  to  give  birth.* 

The  future  opened  before  us  like  a  deep  horizon  em¬ 
bellished  with  her  light,  as  a  something  full  of  graceful 
beauty  sending  us,  from  echo  to  echo,  the  news  of  its 
arrival. 

In  the  innocence  of  Eve  we  could  seize  a  reflex  of  the 
beauty  which  will  crown  her  privileged  daughter.  The 
mother  of  the  human  race  offered  us  the  sweet  image  of 
the  Virgin,  who,  in  a  more  eminent  manner,  will  be  the 
mother  of  the  living. f 

After  the  fall,  we  came,  to  launch,  in  the  name  of  the 
Creator,  the  malediction  upon  the  serpent,  and  foretell  to 
him  that  there  would  reign  eternal  enmity  between  the 
woman  and  him,  that  the  woman  would  repress  his  rage, 
and  crush  his  head.:j: 

We  surrounded  with  vigilant  care  the  chaste  heroines 
sent  of  God  to  be  the  types  and  figures  of  Mary:  Sara, 
Rebecca,  Ruth,  Judith,  Esther.  Like  them,  and  in  far 
more  excellent  manner,  Mary  will  be  the  joy,  the  glory, 
the  salvation  of  her  people. || 

We  announced  her  to  the  prophets,  giving  them  the 
mission  to  go  make  her  known  to  men,  and  to  celebrate 
beforehand  her  privileges  and  her  greatness. 

To  the  eyes  of  Moses  we  made  appear  the  brilliant  star 
rising  out  of  Jacob,  and  illumining  the  nations  seated  in 

O  ”  o 

*  Apoc.,  c.  12,  v.  1-4. 

f  Eve  was  a  type  of  Blessed  Mary,  who  is  the  Mother  of  those  living,  not  the 
temporal,  but  the  spiritual  and  eternal  life  of  heaven.  (St.  Epiphanius,  Heresies , 
78. 

}  Genesis,  c.  3,  v.  14,  15. 

J  Judith,  c.  15,  v.  10. 


/ 


74  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

the  shadow  of  death  ;  and  the  rod  coming  forth  from 
Israel,  full  of  life  and  of  strength,  announcing  the  fruit 
of  eternal  sweetness  which  is  to  revive  all  that  languishes.* 
To  the  spirit  of  Isaias  we  presented  the  admirable 
Virgin,  who,  without  ceasing  to  be  a  Virgin,  by  the 
sole  fecundity  received  of  heaven,  will  bear  the  Desired 
of  all  nations,  the  sweet  Emmanuel,  that  wonderful 
Child  whom  we  shall  see  God  with  man  and  man  with 
God.f 

We  filled  the  heart  of  David  with  unspeakable  admira¬ 
tion  and  with  a  holy  joy,  revealing  to  him  the  interior 
beauty  and  the  outward  ornaments  of  Her  who  was  to  be 
his  Daughter,  the  glory  of  his  name,  the  honor  of  his 
race,  and  who  would  realize  all  the  ancient  prophecies, 
by  giving  birth  to  the  Redeemer  of  the  human  race.f 
Before  Ezechiel  we  displayed,  in  figure,  the  brilliant 
gate,  always  closed,  by  which  no  one  had  entered  or  gone 
out,  and  which  will  open  the  day  when  the  Lord  God  of 
battles  will  make  his  entry  by  it.|| 

In  telling  again  such  holy  and  joyful  visions,  Moses, 
Isaias,  Ezechiel,  David  and  others  have  only  translated  in 
their  language  the  canticles  and  songs  we  murmured  to 
their  ears. 

We  united  our  voices  with  the  suppliant  voices  of  the 
patriarchs,  aspiring  as  they  to  the  happiness  of  saluting 
soon,  not  longer  in  symbols  and  images,  but  in  herself, 
the  Mother  of  our  God. 

Finally,  a  new  message,  sweeter  than  all  those  preced- 

*  Numbers,  c.  24,  v.  17. 
t  Isaias,  c.  7,  v.  14. 
t  Ps.  44,  v.  14,  15. 

||  Ezechiel,  c.  44.  v.  2 . 3. 


75 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

•  \ 

ing,  is  just  confided  to  us.  Gabriel  has  received  the 
order  to  present  himself  to  St.  Joachim  and  to  St.  Anne, 
to  reveal  to  them  the  near  epoch  of  the  miraculous  birth 
of  Mary. 


s  L 


i 


76 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


II. 

MARY  IMMACULATE. 

Between  infinite  holiness  on  the  one  side  and  original 
guilt  on  the  other,  what  a  distance!  Yet  such  was  the 
abyss  that  separated  God  from  man. 

From  Adam  to  the  farthest  generations,  in  all  races  at 
once,  the  evil  was  transmitted  :  on  every  side  guilt  was 
propagated. 

For  the  first  time  evil  has  suspended  its  course.  One 
soul,  issuing  from  the  hands  of  the  Creator,  was  able  to 
be  united  to  the  body  without  contracting  the  common 
stain. 

Behold  the  Queen  conceived  without  sin,  the  Immacu¬ 
late  Virgin,  the  future  Mother  of  God:  Behold  Mary! 

The  day  will  come,  when  a  pontiff  whose  name  will  be 
that  of  piety,*  gathering  together  the  Divine  revelations 
contained  in  Scripture  and  tradition,  will  proclaim  the 
Immaculate  Conception  of  the  Mother  of  God  a  sacred 
dogma.  To  that  sovereign  act  will  reply  the  unanimous 
voice  of  the  children  of  the  Church,  and  illuminations, 
chants,  feasts,  and  solemnities  will  express  the  transports 
and  the  exultation  of  hearts. 

But  at  the  moment  this  touching  mystery  was  accom¬ 
plished,  the  Angels  alone  knew  it  and  could  celebrate  it. 
If  the  ear  of  man  had  then  been  open,  and  God  had 


*  Pius  IX. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


77 


given  him  to  hear  our  canticles  and  our  acclamations,  he 
would  have  seized  some  of  those  accents  which  our  dis¬ 
ciples  on  earth  will  repeat  after  us  ;  he  would  have  gar¬ 
nered  in  his  spirit  and  in  his  heart  pictures  of  beauty. 

Some  said  ;  “  The  mild  sun  of  mercy  could  not  delay 
appearing.  Here  is  the  dawn,  receiving  from  it  its  rays, 
casting  them  on  heaven  and  earth,  and  chasing  away  the 
darkness  of  the  night.”* 

Others:  “ Hail,  beautiful  rainbow!  thou  art  for  the 
earth  the  smile  of  a  God  ready  to  be  appeased  ;  thou 
dost  announce  the  end  of  storms  and  of  tempests,  the 
termination  of  threats.”! 

Others:  46  Sail  !  sail  on!  graceful  ark!  By  thee  the 
Divine  Word  will  plough  the  waves  of  the  troubled  sea 
of  the  world,  will  extend  His  hand  to  the  unfortunate 
who  are  shipwrecked,  and  will  bring  them  back  to  port.”f 

Others:  “A  new  earth!  new  Eden!  planted  by  the 
hand  of  God,  in  which  God  will  return  to  hold  converse 
with  man!  Field  of  flowers,  embalsamed,  fertile,  in 
which  a  flower  of  eternity  will  blossom. ”|| 

Others:  “Vivacious  root!  Tree  ever  verdant!  Stem 
full  of  nobility  !  Glorious  rod  of  which  Christ  will  be 
the  flower.”§ 

Others:  “The  voices  of  humanity  up  to  this  were  lost 
in  the  echoes  of  the  world.  No  one  had  had  the  power 
to  penetrate  the  clouds.  Lo  !  here  is  the  great  and  po¬ 
tent  voice,  the  sound  of  which  will  reach  heaven  itself  !”*[ 

*  Mary,  the  dawn  announcing  God.  (St.  Bernard.) 

fMary,  the  mystic  iris.  (Algrin  d’  Abbeville.) 

JMary,  vessel  of  the  Lord.  (Adam  des  lies.) 

|]  Mary,  field  of  the  Eternal  Flower.  (St.  Ildephonse.) 

g  Mary,  flourishing  root  of  life  ;  rod  whose  flower  is  Christ.  (Hugh  of  St. 
Victor.) 

Mary,  the  voice  of  one  crying  to  heaven.  (St.  Antoninus.) 


78 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


Others:  “Her  perfection,  a  force  attractive  and  irre¬ 
sistible,  will  triumph  over  all  obstacles.  As  a  precious 
loadstone,  it  will  reach  even  in  His  eternity  the  Divine 
Word,  and  draw  Him  into  time.”* 

Others  :  “  Erect  thyself,  wonderful  Ladder,  which  art 
to  unite  earth  with  heaven,  by  which  God  will  descend 
towards  man,  and  man  will  mount  towards  God.”f 

Others:  “Behold  the  hospitable  dwelling-place  of  the 
Eternal  Word,  who  has  become  a  pilgrim  in  time.  Be¬ 
hold  the  bed  of  honor  upon  which  His  adorable  Human¬ 
ity  will  repose,  the  living  throne  upon  which  He  will  take 
His  seat  to  inaugurate  His  reign,  the  sacred  altar  upon 
which  He  will  begin  His  life  of  holocaust.”  £ 

And  others:  “First  and  most  magnificent  sketch  of 
Christ  the  Redeemer!  In  her  soul  and  in  her  virtues, 
she  is  as  if  Jesus  begun.  She  is  the  admirable  mould 
in  which  melted,  indissolubly  •united  and  reduced  to  the 
unity  of  one  only  person,  the  Humanity  and  the  Divinity 
of  the  Word.”  || 

Others,  finally  :  “  In  Mary  Immaculate  w*e  recognize 
the  pledge  of  ancient  promises,  the  signal  for  universal 
joy,  the  great  alleluia  of  faithful  hearts. ”§ 

*Mary,  spiritual  magnet.  (Adam  de  Perseigne.) 

f  Mary,  ladder  of  God  descending  and  of  man  ascending.  (St.  Anselm  of 
Lucca.) 

I  Mary,  the  inn  of  God  a  Pilgrim.  (Richard  of  St.  Victor.)  Mary,  the  couch 
of  the  Humanity  of  Christ.  (St.  Cyprian.)  Mary,  earthly  altar.  (Pierre  de 
Celias.)  - - - 

||  Mary,  form  of  God.  (St.  Aug.  Serm.  on  the  Assumption.) 

§Mary,  pledge  of  the  promise.  (Absalom  of  Treves.)  Mary,  Alleluia  of  the 
faithful.  (St.  Anselm  of  Canterbury.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


79 


III. 

A  CONTEST  FOR  GLORY. 

In  saluting  the  appearance  of  the  Immaculate  Virgin 
as  the  announcement  of  the  near  arrival  of  the  Redeemer, 
we  bade  our  Queen  welcome.  , 

What  an  honor  to  have  as  model  and  guide,  in  the 
most  elevated  paths,  the  Mother  of  our  God! 

But  each  one  of  the  nine  choirs,  seeing  in  Mary  the 
highest  degree  of  the  perfections  that  distinguished  them, 
wished  to  draw  her  to  them,  belong  to  her  especially, 
have  her  at  their  head,  regard  her  as  the  first  of  their 
order. 

“Mary  is  for  us!”  said  the  Choir  of  Seraphs.  “What 
distinguishes  us  is  the  privilege  and  the  mission  to  repre¬ 
sent  God  in  His  love,  to  diffuse  its  fire,  in  His  name 
through  heaven  and  earth.  But  we  see  in  the  soul  of 
Mary  already  more  ardor,  more  of  this  fire,  than  our 
sublime  essence  will  ever  receive.  Mary  shall  be  the 
first  of  the  Seraphs.” 

“Mary  belongs  to  us!”  said  the  Choir  of  the  Cheru¬ 
bim.  “What  distinguishes  us  is  the  privilege  to  represent 
God  in  His  knowledge,  to  make  His  light  shine  every¬ 
where.  But,  farther  than  we,  Mary,  by  the  penetration 
of  her  look,  will  pierce  into  the  bosom  of  the  Divinity, 
and  will  bring  us  thence  secrets  we  should  never  have 
known.  Mary  shall  be  the  first  of  the  Cherubim.” 

“Mary  belongs  to  us!”  said  the  Choir  of  Thrones. 


80 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


“  What  distinguishes  us  is  the  privilege  and  the  mission 
of  representing  God  in  His  holiness,  of  becoming  its 
living  abodes,  and  its  residence.  But  has  not  Mary  re¬ 
ceived  the  mission  to  be  the  first  abode,  the  first  throne, 
the  first  residence  of  the  Incarnate  Word  ?  In  her  bosom, 
on  her  knees,  in  her  arms,  see  the  Infant-God!  Mary 
shall  be  the  first  of  the  Thrones.” 

“Mary  belongs  to  us!”  said  the  Choir  of  the  Domi¬ 
nations.  “  What  distinguishes  us  is  the  privilege  and  the 
mission  to  represent  God  in  His  empire  over  creatures. 
But  Mary  is  to  become  the  depository  of  divine  author¬ 
ity.  When  we  shall  receive  of  the  Son  empire  and 
power,  it  will  be  by  the  mediation  of  the  Mother,  and 
our  authority  will  be  but  the  emanation  of  the  power  of 
Mary.  Mary  shall  be  the  first  of  the  Dominations.” 

“Mary  belongs  to  us!”  said  the  Choir  of  the  Virtues. 
“What  distinguishes  us  is  the  privilege  and  mission  to 
represent  God  in  His  force,  to  command  over  the  laws  of 
the  universe  to  cause  wonders  to  be  wrought.  But,  to 
execute  the  orders  of  the  Most  High,  we  shall  see  in 
Mary  more  energy  and  vigor  than  in  all  creatures  united  : 
a  day  will  come  when  man  will  dare  say  that  she  has  the 
monopoly  of  miracles.  Mary  shall  be  the  first  of  the 
Virtues.” 

“Mary  belongs  to  us!”  said  the  Choir  of  Powers. 
“What  distinguishes  us  is  the  privilege  and  the  mission 
to  represent  God  in  His  justice,  by  restraining  the  fury 
of  the  demons.  But,  has  not  Mary  received  the  higher 
mission  to  crush  with  her  foot  the  head  of  the  infernal 
serpent,  and  to  hand  him  over  to  us  chained?  Mary 
shall  be  the  first  of  the  Powers.” 

“Mary  belongs  to  us!”  said  the  Choir  of  Principali- 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


81 


ties.  “What  distinguishes  us  is  the  privilege  and  the 
mission  to  represent  God  in  His  love  of  order,  by  making 
a  reflection  of  the  perfect  order /that  reigns  in  the  society 
of  heaven,  shine  forth  in  the  societies  of  earth.  But 
never  shall  we  be  able  to  procure  more  assuredly  peace 
and  prosperity  for  the  various  fractions  of  the  human 
family  than  by  putting  them  under  the  protection  of 
Mary.  Mary  shall  be  the  first  of  the  Principalities.” 

“Mary  belongs  to  us!”  said  the  Choir  of  Archangels. 
“What  distingushes  us  is  the  privilege  and  the  mission 
to  represent  God  in  His  revelations,  and  bring  to  time  the 
secrets  of  eternity.  But  the  revelation  by  excellence, 
the  great  manifestation  of  God  to  man,  in  what  way  will 
it  be  accomplished?  Will  it  not  be  in  Mary  and  by 
Mary!  Mary  shall  be  the  first  of  the  Arc'hangels.” 

“Mary  belongs  to  us!”  said  finally  the  Choir  of  An¬ 
gels.  “What  distinguishes  us  is  the  privilege  and  the 
mission  to  represent  God  in  His  tenderness  for  human 
souls,  by  heaping  blessings  upon  them.  But  will  not 
the  heart  of  Mary  be  an  ocean  of  this  tenderness?  Is 
it  not  by  taking  from  her  that  we  shall  be  able  to  fulfil 
our  sweet  ministry  ?  Mary  shall  be  the  first  of  the 
Angels.” 

Far  from  renouncing  ever  a  claim  that  will  appear  to 
them  every  day  more  legitimate,  each  of  the  nine  choirs 
will  not  cease  to  desire  more  i  especially  to  belong  to 
Mary,  and  more  fully  to  possess  her.  The  question  will 
be  continued  on  earth  and  in  heaven,  in  time  and  in  eter¬ 
nity.  To  the  great  glory  of  Mary,  as  well  as  to  the 
great  joy  of  the  heart  of  God,  it  will  never  end. 


82 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


\ 


IV. 

\  '  ^  '  '  ' 

THE  GUARDIAN  ANGEL  OE  MARY. 

There  is  among  us  a  spirit  who  received  the  glorious 
mission  of  giving  assistance  to  Mary,  and  of  guiding  her 
during  her  mortal  life. 

The  Angel  destined  to  guide  the  most  perfect  of  crea¬ 
tures  could  not  belong  to  an  inferior  order.  He  was  in 
fact  taken  from  amonsr  the  highest.* 

The  Guardian  Angel  of  Mary  is  Gabriel,  force  or  vir¬ 
tue  of  God.  God  Himself  honored  him  with  this  name, 
because  he  was  to  represent,  in  His  apparitions,  the  future 
Conqueror  of  the  infernal  powers. f 

Mary,  is  infinitely  higher  than  Gabriel,  if  we  consider 
the  glory  of  which  her  virtues- are  the  pledge;  but  she 
is  below  him  if  we  compare  her  state  while  on  earth  with 
that  of  the  Angel  in  glory. 

This  same  condition  of  things  may  be  realized  in  the 
case  of  all  souls  of  eminent  holiness,  relatively  to  their 
Guardian  Angels. :j: 

*  Gabriel,  the  angel  announcing  the  Incarnation,  was  one  of  the  supreme 
Choir,  or  of  the  Seraphim.  (Virgilius  Sedlmayr,  Theol.  Mariana.)  Sts.  Gregory 
the  Great,  John  Damascene,  Basil,  Lawrence  Justinian. 

f  To  whom  it  is  believed  she  was  given  from  the  beginning  to  be  protected. 
(St.  Bernard,  Letter  to  Hugh  of  St.  Victor.  Everything  regarding  Mary  is  said 
to  have  been  committed  to  Gabriel.  (St.  Ildephouse,  St.  Epiphanius,  Eusebius 
Ernes.,  St.  Brigit,  St.  Peter  Damian,  Suarez.) 

I  Some  men  even  while  living  on  earth  are  greater  than  some  angels, 
not  by  reason  of  their  being,  but  from  virtue,  in  as  much  as  they  have  charity 
of  such  intensity  that  they  can  merit  a  greater  degree  of  happiness  than  some 
angels  have  :  as  if  we  should  say  the  seed  of  some  great  tree  is  of  greater  virtue 
than  some  small  tree  is,  although  such  seed  be  much  smaller  actually.  (St. 
Thomas  1,  q.  117,  art.  2.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  83 

The  relations  of  Mary  with  her  Guardian  Angel  will 
be  intimate  and  constant. 

He  will  foretell  men  her  approach  and  arrival,  He  will 
reveal  to  Daniel,  the  prophet,  the  number  of  weeks  after 
which  Christ  will  deliver  His  people,  and  he  will  give 
Zachariah  knowledge  of  the  birth  of  the  Precursor. 

Resplendent  with  light,  and  surrounded  by  thousands 
of  other  spirits,  he  will  appear  successively  to  St.  Joa¬ 
chim  and  St.  Anne  to  announce  to  them  the  birth  of  their 

■  x  ■  ■  i  > 

wonderful  child. 

He  will  have  the  honor  of  being  the  first,  after  God, 
to  pronounce  thé  sweet  name  of  Mary.  He  knows  its 
inexhaustible  treasures  ;  he  will  inspire  the  great  doctors 
who  will  one  day  come  to  study  its  fertile  meanings. 

He  will  be  to  Mary  the  messenger  of  the  divine  orders. 
His  cooperation*  in  the  mystery  of  the  coming  and 
work  of  the  Word,  will  merit  for  him  the  title  of  Angel 
of  the  Incarnation. 

The  other  spirits  will  be  the  friends  of  the  spouse. 
Gabriel  will  be  the  paranymph  conducting  the  spouse  to 
that  union  which  is  to  give  to  the  earth  its  Redeemer.! 

He  will  put  on  a  body,  make  it  resplendent  with  the 
beauty  of  Him  he  represents,  and  will  bring  to  Mary  the 
happy  news  time  has  received  from  eternity. 

A  faithful  witness  of  her  virginity,  he  will  reassure 
Joseph,  and  will  make  him  know  the  favors  which  Heaven 
has  heaped  upon  his  chaste  spouse.  * 

He  will  save  her  from  the  persecutions  of  men,  causing 
her  to  leave  for  a  far-off  region,  and  will  bring  her  back 
when  the  peril  will  have  ceased. 


*  This  very  Gabriel,  thy  sharer  in  mystery.  (Guencus,  on  the  Assumption.) 
t  You,  she  says,  are  the  companions  of  the  spouse;  thy  Gabriel  is  my  para- 
nymph.  (Ibid.) 


84 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


He  will  often  visit  her,  and  will  speak  to  her  in  the  lan¬ 
guage  of  heaven,  which  is  so  sweet  to  her  and  which  she 
prefers  to  all  the  discourses  of  men. 

He  will  sustain  and  console  her  in  the  fear  and  anxiety 
that  precede  the  Passion  of  her  Son,  in  that  grief,  wide 
and  deep  as  the  sea,  which  bears  her  company,  and  in 
that  languor  of  love  that  follows  the  Ascension. 

After  the  departure  of  Jesus  for  heaven,  Mary  has 
two  Guardian  Angels  on  earth.  One  is  at  her  right,  in¬ 
visible  to  men:  it  is  Gabriel.  The  other  is  at  her  left, 
where  he  is  ever  visible;  it  is  John  the  Evangelist.* 

To  our  eyes  nothing  is  sweeter  and  more  deserving 
of  love  than  these  two  Angels.  But  to  the  eyes  of  the 
powers  of  hell,  nothing  is  more  terrible.  They  are  two 
lions  strong  and  full  of  courage,  watching,  always  with 
open  eye,  over  the  treasure,  and  keeping  evil-doers  at  a 
distance.f 

The  two  Angels  of  Mary  receive  her  last  sigh. 

Gabriel  is  present  when  divine  power  drives  back  death, 
and  works  her  glorious  resurrection.  He  invites  us  to 
extend  our  wings  and  receive,  in  order  to  bear  it  to  glory, 
that  body  so  pure. 

It  'is  Gabriel  who  miraculously  brings  together  the 
Apostles,  dispersed  in  far-off  regions,  and  reunites  them 
around  her  tomb. 

Yes,  Gabriel  was  the  Angel  most  devoted  to  Mary  and 
the  most  beloved  of  her;  the  one  who  did  most  for  her 
glory,  and  was  most  glorified  by  it;  in  a  word,  the  An- 

*  My  virgin  son,  a  new  angel  in  the  flesh.  (Ibid.) 

fThe  two  lions  of  the  throne  of  Solomon  are  Gabriel  the  Archangel,  and  John 
the  Evangelist,  of  whom  one  is  deputed  to  guard  the  right,  the  other  the  left; 
for  Gabriel  preserves  the  mind,  and  John,  the  flesh  with  solicitude  that  knows 
not  sleep.  (St.  Peter  Damian,  on  the  Nativity  of  Mary.) 


4 


I 

MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  85 

gel  who  best  taught  Angels  and  men  to  love  and  serve 
the  Mother  of  the  Redeemer. 

Christian  Soul,  saintly,  jealous  of  knowing  our  rela¬ 
tions  with  Mary,  and  eager  to  share  them,  come,  bow 
down  before  Gabriel,  commence  always  by  asking  light 
and  aid  of  him. 

There  wras  on  earth  a  man  who  seemed  to  us  to  exhibit 
again  the  zeal  and  care  of  Gabriel  for  Mary:  it  was  St. 
Bernard. 

More  than  one  Angel,  seeing  them  both,  said: 

“  Placed  among  men,  the  Archangel  Gabriel  wrould  have 
been  St.  Bernard;  placed  among  Angels,  St.  Bernard 
would  have  been  the  Archangel  Gabriel.” 


v 


86 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


Y. 

MAGNIFICAT. 

Far  from  being  confined  between  unchangeable  shores, 
the  ocean  of  Mary’s  perfections  goes  on  enlarging,  and 
extending  itself  in  the  bosom  of  divine  immensity. 

Beautiful  and  noble  as  she  was  in  her  first  instant, 
Mary  is  not  yet  at  the  degree  marked  by  divine  wisdom. 
It  will  be  given  us  to  assist  at  the  grand  spectacle  of  her 
progressive  elevation. 

We  had  celebrated  with  Gabriel  the  Immaculate  Con¬ 
ception  of  Mary  ;  we  celebrated  with  him  her  nativity, 
not  less  brilliant  and  glorious  to  heaven  than  it  was  ob¬ 
scure  and  hidden  to  earth. 

We  were  strangers  to  no  circumstances  of  her  life. 
On  all  occasions  we  rendered  her  the  good  offices  due 
her,  and  did  not  cease  to  store  in  our  hearts  the  beautiful 
examples  of  virtue  and  love  which  she  gave. 

At  her  presentation  in  the  temple,  at  her  first  consecra¬ 
tion  to  God,  at  the  age  of  three  years,  we  strewed  flowers 
on  her  path,  we  covered  the  walls  with  ornaments  invisi¬ 
ble,  we  embalmed  the  air  with  sweet  perfumery,  we  drew 
from  our  lyres  new  sounds,  we  learned,  in  contemplating 
her,  to  serve  God  in  a  more  perfect  way. 

During  her  sojourn  in  this  sacred  place,  the  Lord 
nourished  her  soul  with  thoughts  and  sentiments  most 
elevated.  We  nourished  her  body  with  a  bread  and  a 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  87 

beverage  brought  from  heaven,  with  a  manna  the  Word 
Himself  had  prepared.* 

The  first  to  know  and  celebrate  the  divine  maternity, 
we  had  the  honor  to  assist  at  the  announcement  made  her 
by  Gabriel,  when  he  hailed  her  full  of  grace. 

We  were  with  her  on  the  mountains  of  Judea,  we  en¬ 
circled  her  when  she  sang  her  canticle  of  thanksgiving, 
and  the  prophecy  of  her  future  greatness. 

Never  had  Angel  nor  Seraph  found  such  accents  in 
which  to  celebrate  the  name  of  Him  who  does  great 
things,  raising  up  the  humble,  casting  down  the  proud, 
exercising  the  rigors  of  justice,  spreading  around  the 
sweetness  of  mercy. 

Sublime  canticle  and  divine,  the  echo  of  that  of  Michael 
after  the  defeat  of  Lucifer. 

It  will  be  sung  from  generation  to  generation  by  Holy 
Church,  repeated  by  poesy,  eloquence,  history,  the  arts, 
sciences,  all  voices  angelic  and  human.  It  will  be  re¬ 
peated  to  the  end  of  time,  and  will  cease  only  to  recom¬ 
mence  or  be  continued  in  a  new  manner  for  all  eternity. 

During  the  nine  months  Mary  bore  in  her  virginal 
womb  the  Incarnate  Word,  she  was  in  our  eyes  the  most 
august  of  sanctuaries.  She  was  like  heaven,  like  the 
most  sacred  abode  of  heaven,  and  yet  more. 

Not  only  did  the  Divine  Word  reside  in  her,  but  He 
received  from  her  His  blood  and  flesh,  and  lived  of  her 
life. _ _ 

*She  received  food  from  the  hands  of  angels.  (Gregory  of  Nicomedia.)  Mary 
was  nourished  with  ambrosial  banquets  by  an  angel,  and  given  to  drink  of 
sacred  nectar,  to  another  period.  (St.  Germanus  of  Constantinople,  Sermon.  St. 
Jerome,  St.  Bonaventure.) 


I 


88  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


VI. 

THE  MOTHER,  OE  GOD. 

When  Mary  became  the  Mother  of  God,  when  we  saw 
the  Divine  Infant  reposing  on  her  knees,  receiving  her 
caresses,  smiling  upon  her,  drawing  life  from  her  breast, 
we  were  more  than  ever  struck  by  His  humility  and 
greatness. 

With  Jesus,  Mary,  and  Joseph,  we  dwelt  in  the  house 
of  Nazareth;  we  were  witnesses  of  all  that  occurred  in 
the  Holy  Family.  Prayer,  repose,  labor,  repasts,  con¬ 
versation,  all  is  humble  and  grand,  simple  and  sublime, 
obscure  yet  brilliant  with  grace. 

0  blessed  roof!  0  sacred  walls  !  you  will  be  destroyed 
neither  by  years  nor  by  centuries  ;  you  will  remain  erect 
as  an  immortal  memory,  and  a  constant  witness  of  what 
we  have  seen. 

When  the  region  you  honor  shall  have  become  inhos¬ 
pitable;  when  the  devout  servants  of  the  Holy  Family 
will  no  longer  be  able  to  approach  you,  we  will  take  you 
on  our  wings  ;  we  will  carry  you  through  the  air  ;  we 
will  go  place  you  on  a  more  propitious  soil. 

The  humble  house  of  Nazareth,  then  become  the  Holy 
House  of  Loretto,  will  continue  to  receive  the  pilgrims 
of  the  whole  world.* 

*This,  after  a  thousand  years,  was  transferred  from  Galilee  and  Nazareth  by 
angels  to  Dalmatia,  and  thence  to  Italy,  to  Loretto,  where  it  is  now,  and  is 
visited  by  a  pious  multitude  from  the  whole  earth.  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  on  St.  ImJcc, 
c.  1,  v.  26. 


r 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPB.  89 

While  Jesus  was  accomplishing  His  mission,  and 
spreading  His  doctrine,  we  saw  Mary  follow  Him  with 
her  heart,  associate  herself  to  what  He  did,  second  His 
efforts.  There  is  no  sacrifice,  no  self-devotion,  she  did 
not  take  part  in. 

In  the  tears  of  her  grief  as  in  those  of  her  joys,  we 
admired  the  vivacity  of  her  love,  and  we  understood  that 
a  love  greater  than  that  which  filled  our  heart  was  due 
the  Redeemer  of  souls.  She  shows  us  too  how  much 
she  loves  souls,  the  objects  of  the  pursuit  of  divine  love. 

In  offering  Jesus  to  His  Father,  for  their  salvation,  in 
consenting  to  the  torments  of  the  Passion,  in  shewing 
herself  ready  herself  to  immolate  her  dear  Isaac,  had 
such  been  the  will  of  God,  she  teaches  us  with  what  per¬ 
fection  she  knows  how  to  put  her  heart  into  conformity 
with  that  of  her  Creator. 

After  the  Ascension,  how  vehement  was  her  desire  to 
go  rejoin  her  well-beloved  Jesus!  What  holy  envy  she 
bore  the  Angels,  the  just  of  ancient  days,  the  souls  she 
saw  daily  take  their  departure  for  heaven  ! 

But  at  the  same  time  what  resignation  to  remain  as 
long  as  it  was  decreed  upon  an  earth  bedewed  with  the 
Blood  of  that  glorious  Son,  where  the  Cross  is  every¬ 
where  to  be  found,  and  where  on  every  side  altars  rise! 

It  is  in  the  reception  of  the  Blessed  Eucharist  that  we 
see  Mary  seek  a  recompense  for  her  absence  from  heaven, 
ft  is  here  she  can  be  prodigal  in  evidences  of  her  ten- 
lerness  for  her  Son,  Jesus,  and  pay  to  Him,  her  God, 
ill  the  ardor  of  her  adoration. 

The  Son  has  given  the  example  of  the  impatient  love 
that  raises  the  altar,  and  immolates  itself  in  the  full  vigor 
of  life. 


90 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


Mary  has  furnished  us  the  model  of  the  love  ever  in¬ 
creasing,  that  goes  from  perfection  to  perfection  till  the 
coming  of  age. 

Jesus  having  gone  to  heaven,  Mary  gives  the  treasures 
of  her  tenderness  to  the  new  children  bestowed  on  her 
on  Calvary.  She  excites  in  their  hearts  apostolic  zeal, 
and  presides  over  the  first  developments  of  the  growing 
Church. 

But  during  the  long  years  that  elapse  between  the  de¬ 
parture  of  the  Son  and  that  of  the  Mother,  what  an 
honor  to  us  to  be  the  confidants  and  messengers  of  these 
two  hearts,  the  most  perfect  and  loving  that  ever  were  or 
will  be.* 

*What  Mary  did  after  the  Ascension,  how  holy  and  just  her  life  was,  and 
with  whom  she  lived,  appears  lobe  known  only  to  God,  and  to  the  Archangel 
Gabriel,  to  whom  everything  regarding  her  is  declared  to  have  been  entrusted 
by  the  Lord,  to  the  angels  rejoicing  and  conferring  among  themselves,  and  to 
the  beloved  disciple  St.  John,  who  at  the  foot  of  the  cross  took  her  to  his  care 
and  solicitude.  (Juvenal,  Archbishop  of  Jerusalem.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


91 


YII. 

THE  PASSING  AWAY. 

Mary  has  received  the  announcement  of  her  depart¬ 
ure:  Gabriel  has  appeared  to  her,  and  has  presented  to 
her  a  palm,  in  the  name  of  her  Son. 

She  has  understood  the  gracious  invitation.  She  has 
replied  to  it  by  new  transports  of  love,  and  has  made  it 
known  to  the  holy  souls  that  surround  her.* 

The  Apostles,  dispersed  far  and  wide,  have  been  mirac¬ 
ulously  called  together,  and  transported  to  Jerusalem. 
They  are  there  ;  they  are  going  to  assist  with  us  at  this 
death  of  love.f 

As  a  ripe  fruit  detaches  itself  from  the  branch  that 
bore  it,  and  precipitates  to  the  centre  of  attraction,  so  the 
soul  of  Mary  disengages  itself  from  the  bonds  of  the 
body,  flies  heavenward,  and  rejoins  her  well-beloved. 

Jesus  having  passed  through  the  gates  of  death,  Mary, 
too,  must  do  likewise.  The  death  of  Mary  was  to  be 
the  complement  of  the  immolation  of  Jesus  for  the  ran¬ 
som  of  men. 

*She  makes  known  to  those  who  came  together  what  her  Son  by  an  angel  had 
told  her;  shews  the  trophy  given  her  by  Him;  this  was  a  palm-branch,  sign  of 
victory  over  death,  and  the  image  of  life  immortal.  (Simeon  Metaphrastes,  of 
the  Sleep  of  Mary  ) 

f  Worthy  praises  sang  the  angels,  as  they  went  before  her,  accompanied  and 
followed  her.  Some  going  with  that  most  holy  and  spotless  soul,  and  at  the 
same  time  ascending,  till  they  saw  the  queen  upon  her  royal  throne  ;  some  sur¬ 
rounding  that  divine  and  sacred  body,  and  glorifying  it  with  canticles  worthy 
to  be  offered  by  angels  to  the  Mother  of  God.  (St.  John  Damascene,  of  the  Sleep 
of  the  Mother  of  God.) 


92 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


At  the  passing  away  of  Mary  we  formed  two  escorts: 
one  accompanied  her  soul  as  it  mounted  triumphantly  to 
heaven  ;  the  other  surrounded  her  body  which  the  Apos¬ 
tles  go  to  lay  to  rest  in  the  tomb  of  Gethsemane.* 

All  we  shall  do  one  day,  at  the  passage  from  this  life 
of  the  greatest  friends  of  God,  to  make  happy  their  de¬ 
parture  from  this  world,  could  not  be  compared  with  what 
we  do  for  the  soul  of  Mary. 

No  chants  could  be  more  harmonious  ;  no  lights  more 
brilliant;  no  perfumes  sweeter;  no  miracles  more  splen¬ 
did,  f 

The  entry  of  the  soul  of  Mary  into  heaven  is  signal¬ 
ized  by  an  increase  of  happiness  in  our  hearts.  This 
great  and  holy  soul  communicates  to  us  what  she  draws 
more  abundantly  than  we  from  the  bosom  of  God. 

The  knowledge  of  the  mysteries  of  grace  accomplished 
in  her  and  transformed  now  into  mysteries  of  glory,  in¬ 
creases  ever  our  felicity.  We  understand  better,  and 
admire  in  a  more  lively  manner,  the  work  of  the  divine 
power  and  goodness.^ 

To  honor  the  bodies  of  saints  it  has  often  happened 
that  God  has  preserved  them  for  a  time  from  corruption. 

*If  Christ  the  Saviour  deigned  to  manifest  by  means  of  such  wonderful  and 
great  marks  of  approval  in  connection  with  the  dead,  on  account  of  their  merits, 
to  recreate  the  spirit  and  confirm  the  faith  of  those  present;  how  much  more 
should  we  believe  that  to-day  the  hosts  of  heaven  came  in  fedive  array  to  meet 
the  Mother  of  God,  and  clothe  her  with  great  light,  and  lead  her  with  praise 
and  spiritual  song  to  the  throne  prepared  for  her  before  the  constitution  of  the 
world.  (St.  Sophronius,  of  the  sleep  of  the  Mother  of  God.) 

f  We  have  received  by  ancient  and  most  true  tradition,  that  at  the  time  of  her 
most  glorious  falling  asleep,  all  the  holy  apostles  who  were  going  through  the 
world  for  the  salvation  of  people,  in  a  moment  raised  up  in  the  air,  were 
brought  together  in  Jerusalem.  (Juvenalis,  Patr.  of  Jerusalem.) 

J  Since  after  Christ  as  man,  no  secondary  object  of  happiness  of  such  dignity 
and  excellence  exists  in  which  the  divine  wisdom  and  power  so  shine  forth  as 

in  the  Blessed  Virgin . the  angels  do  not  fail  to  have  this  perfection  of 

happiness.  (Suarez,  lib.  6,  c.  5,  n.  10.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


93 


But  to  each  one  came  the  moment  when  he  was  obliged 
to  pay  his  tribute  to  the  inflexible  law  of  return  to  dust. 

Holy  and  venerable  dust,  gathered  in  silk  and  gold, 
placed  on  the  altar,  continuing  to  receive  the  homage  of 
the  living;  but  nevertheless  dust,  recalling  the  fact  that 
it  was  once  soiled  with  the  taint  of  origin,  and  must  un¬ 
dergo  a  purgatory. 

’Twas  not  thus  with  the  body  of  Mary.  Embalmed, 
from  the  first  instant,  of  holiness  and  of  purity  without 
spot,  it  was  to  remain  free  from  corruption.  It  will  go 
down  to  the  tomb  like  that  of  the  Redeemer;  but  like 
that  of  the  Redeemer,  it  will  come  forth  on  the  third  day 
by  a  glorious  resurrection. 

Prepared  for  glory  already,  it  is  immediately  trans¬ 
formed.  It  receives  properties  which  are  of  heaven 
rather  than  of  earth,  and  seems  to  belong  less  to  bodies 
than  to  spirits  ;  splendor,  agility,  subtilty,  impassibility. 

Such  an  honor  was  due  the  temple  of  Divine  goodness, 
the  living  tabernacle  of  the  Redeemer,  the  immaculate 
throne  on  which  He  sat,  the  sacred  flesh  from  which  was 
taken  the  flesh  giving  life  to  the  world,  and  making  holi¬ 
ness  bud  forth. 

Around  the  tomb  which  guarded  our  treasure,  we 
*  waited  in  attention,  retained  by  hope,  confiding  in  the 
promise,  expecting  the  blessed  moment  when  the  resur¬ 
rection  would  be  wrought. 

What  grandeur,  and  what  a  charm  in  that  angelic 
wratch  around  the  body  of  the  Mother  of  God! 

The  Apostles  took  part  in  it;  they  succeeded  each 
other  day  and  night  at  the  tomb.  They  heard  our  har¬ 
monies,  and  replied  to  them  by  chants  and  hymns  that 
regret  and  hope  inspired. 


94 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


VIII 


-  \ 


THE  ASSUMPTION, 


A  look,  a  smile,  a  first  movement!  See,  see,  there  is 
life  !  Mary  is  living,  Mary  is  resuscitated  !  Hail  !  full 
of  grace,  full  of  life!  0  mistress  of  death!  The  Lord 
is  truly  with  thee  ! 

With  what  transports  did  the  soul  of  Mary  take  again 
that  body,  which  was  the  throne  of  a  dignity  unique,  the 
instrument  of  wonderful  operations,  the  source  of  incom¬ 
parable  virtues,  and  which  is  going  to  be  crowned  with 
so  great  glory  through  all  eternity. 

Mary  could  raise  herself  up  of  her  own  accord  by 
the  power  of  her  soul  and  the  properties  of  her  glorified 
body.  But  to  us  was  reserved  the  honor  of  being  her 
chariot  of  triumph,  and  to  bear  her  on  our  wings  from 
exile  to  her  home. 

All  the  phalanxes  of  the  heavenly  army  have  been 
called  together.  The  nine  choirs  are  there,  represented 
by  a  host  of  happy  spirits.  What  transports  !  What 
harmony  at  the  moment  of  departure  ! 

On  the  day  of  the  great  resurrection,  the  body  of  the 
Redeemer,  and  that  of  His  holy  Mother,  will  be  seen 
surrounded  by  pure  spirits,  and  in  the  very  bosom  of 
God,  in  the  midst  of  all  glorious  bodies. 

These  two  bodies,  clothed  with  splendor,  full  of  sweet¬ 
ness,  will  be  the  torches  that  will  illume  and  rejoice  the 
holy  city.  Stars,  never  rising  and  never  setting,  always 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  95 

at  their  full,  they  will  enlighten  the  intelligence  and 
warm  the  heart. 

While  we  bear  off  our  glorious  burden  heavenward, 
the  countenance  of  the  Apostles  becomes  clouded.  They 
no  longer  hear  our  harmony  ;  our  voices  no  longer  an¬ 
swer  theirs.  The  silence  fills  them  with  anxiety. 

They  approach,  trembling,  to  the  tomb  ;  they  open  it 
respectfully,  and  recognize  that  the  holy  body  has  disap¬ 
peared. 

They  shed  an  abundance  of  tears,  and  remain  silent 
with  grief.  But  they  recall  the  fact  that  three  days  have 
gone  by  since  Mary  passed  away,  and  they  understand 
that  she  has  been  raised  up  by  her  Divine  Son. 

The  celestial  odor  that  exhales  from  the  empty  tomb 
inundates  them  with  its  sweetness,  and  they  withdraw 
consoled  and  strengthened.* 

But  the  best  festivals  of  earth  and  of  heaven  would 
be  incomplete  if  hell  did  not  bring  forward  its  witness  of 
its  spite. 

At  the  Ascension,  the  divinity  of  the  Redeemer,  till 
then  veiled  and  doubted  by  Satan,  made  itself  manifest 
all  at  once  in  its  full  evidence,  and  filled  the  measure  of 
the  confusion  of  the  proud  spirit. 

In  like  manner,  at  the  Assumption  of  Mary,  Satan 
saw  with  redoubled  rage  the  glory  of  this  woman  who 
received  the  mission  to  crush  his  head,  against  whom  he 
had  hoped  to  prevail. 

*The  body  of  the  Virgin  Mother  was  laid  to  rest  in  Gethsemaue,  where  in 
the  midst  of  the  chants  of  the  angels  it  remained  three  days.  After  the  days 
hail  elapsed,  as  the  angelic  singing  ceased,  the  apostles  present  ope  ed  the  tomb  ; 
but  the  spotle  s  and  illustiious  body  they  were  not  able  to  find.  Having  found 
only  what  enveloped  the  body,  and  delighted  with  the  ineffable  odor  exhaled 
therefrom,  they  closed  the  sepulchre.  (Juvenalis,  Patriarch  of  Jerusalem.) 


/ 


96  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


IX. 

/ 

THE  CORONATION. 

The  Redeemer,  coming  to  meet  His  holy  Mother,  re¬ 
ceived  her  in  His  arms,  lavished  upon  her  the  marks  of 
His  filial  piety,  led  her  through  the  prostrate  hierarchies, 
and  made  her  sit  at  His  right  hand. 

He  placed  on  her  head  the  crown  in  which  shone  the 
incomparable  jewel  of  the  divine  maternity,  put  in  her 
hand  the  sceptre  of  universal  sovereignty,  showing  her 
the  bosom  of  God. 

“There,”  He  said  to  her,  “0  my  Mother,  is  the  ex¬ 
tent  of  thy  empire.  ’Tis  there  I  have  placed  thee  as 
Queen.  Thou  shalt  be  Queen  of  Angels,  of  Patriarchs, 
of  Prophets,  of  Apostles,  of  Martyrs,  of  Confessors,  of 
Virgins — in  a  word,  of  all  my  elect. 

“  From  the  height  of  this  roval  residence,  thou  shalt 
reign  in  like  manner  over  the  far-off  region  thou  hast  just 
left.  Thou  shalt  be  there  the  Queen  of  those  who  al¬ 
ready  style  thee  the  Cause  of  their  Joy,  Gate  of  Heaven, 
Morning  Star,  Health  of  the  Weak,  Refuge  of  Sinners, 
Consoler  of  the  Afflicted,  Help  of  Christians. 

“But  thy  authority  will  not  stop  there;  it  will  extend 
over  a  region  farther  away  still,  and  more  sombre  than 
that  of  men.  Queen  of  Angels,  thou  shalt  reign  over 
the  bad  as  over  the  good. 

“  Rebellious  subjects,  still  always  subjects,  the  demons 
shall  never  withdraw  themselves  from  thy  empire.  Thou 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


97 


shalt  have,  to  suppress  and  chastise  their  revolts,  those 
magnificent  legions  which  I  have  prepared  for  thee.  The 
good  Angels  will  fly  at  thy  will,  and  their  joy  will  be  to 
do  thy  bidding. 

“  Towards  guilty  men  thou  wilt  exercise  naught  but 
mercy  ;  for,  while  they  are  thy  subjects,  they  are  thy 
children  ;  the  best  of  mothers  could  not  have  a  mission 
to  strike  or  curse. 

“  But  thou  shalt  make  those  perverse  spirits,  jealous 
of  a  chance  to  destroy  those  thou  lovest,  feel  the  weight 
of  justice.  To  their  eyes  thou  shalt  appear  ever  as  an 
army  drawn  up  in  battle-array.”* 

Clothed  with  her  royalty,  Mary  chants  again,  in  the 
midst  of  the  heavenly  hosts,  that  Magnificat  of  which 
she  sees  the  accomplishment  on  every  side. 

And  the  prophets,  uniting  their,  voices  with  hers,  sing 
again,  on  their  harps,  the  visions  that  once  charmed  them, 
and  of  which  they  have  present  the  reality. 

As  for  ourselves,  while  fulfilling  our  ministry,  we  do 
not  cease  to  celebrate  the  triumph  of  Mary.  We  recall 
the  mysteries  of  joy,  of  sorrow,  and  of  glory  that  made 
up  her  life  of  time,  going  through  the  cycle  of  those 
events,  which  have  become  for  us  as  for  men,  objects  of 
festivity  that  deeply  move. 

In  exile  how  sweet  to  recall  one’s  country!  But  once 
at  home,  the  souvenirs  of  exile  have  their  charm!  As  a 
graceful  exchange,  while  men  speak  again  and  again  of 
the  events  of  heaven,  we  not  less  often  tell  of  the  events 
of  earth. 

*  Canticles,  c  6,  v.  3.  Mary  is  the  wonderful  terror  of  the  evil  spirits,  the 
special  love  of  the  blessed  spirits.  (St.  Peter  Damian,  Sermon  on  the  Assump¬ 
tion.)  She  is  as  terrible  to  the  demons  as  she  is  venerable  to  the  saints.  (Rich, 
of  St.  Lawrence,  De  Laudibus  Maria.) 


98 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


It  is  never  in  vain  that  the  supplications  which  mount 
meet  the  harmonies  that  descend. 

We  were  repeating  one  day  the  canticle  hy  which  was 
announced  to  Mary  the  Resurrection  of  her  Divine  Son  ; 
we  were  singing  : 

Queen  of  heaven  rejoice,  Alleluia!* 

For  He  whom  thou  didst  deserve  to  bear,  Alleluia! 

Has  risen  as  He  said,  Alleluia! 

At  that  moment  a  people,  decimated  hy  a  plague,  were 
going,  in  prayer  and  tears,  with  their  pontiff,  following 
the  image  of  Mary,  painted  by  the  Evangelist  St.  Luke. 
The  crowd  heard  our  voices,  distinguished  our  words, 
and  the  pontiff  hastened  to  add: 

Pray  to  God  for  us,  Alleluia  !  f 

All  made  the  same  supplication,  and  the  exterminating 
Angel  appeared  upon  a  height,  sheathing  his  sword.  The 
scourge  had  ceased. £ 

*  The  Regina  Cceli. 

•f-The  Regina  Cœli. 

|  The  year  590.  The  Pope  was  St.  Gregory  the  Great.  The  angels  appeared 
above  the  mausoleum  of  Adrian,  since  called  Castel  St.  Angelo.  (Carolus  Sicon- 
ius,  Canisius,  Pompeius  Ugonius,  Ordo  Romanus,  Baronius.) 

S  .  -s  • 


/v 

J 


\ 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


99 


X. 

TIIE  SOUL  AND  THE  SERAPH. 

The  Soul:  “From  the  depths  of  my  obscure  valley 
will  it  be  permitted  me,  0  Seraph,  friend  of  man,  to  raise 
my  voice  to  you? 

“If  my  filial  piety  does  not  deceive  me,  we  are  united 
to  Mary  more  intimately  than  the  Angels  ;  Mary  belongs 
to  us  more  especially  than  to  you.” 

Seraph:  “Consider,  my  sister,  that  the  Angels  have 
been  the  first  heralds  of  the  glory  of  Mary.  Men  did 
not  yet  exist,  and  already  we  knew  her  future  appari¬ 
tion. 

“  We  had  celebrated  her  entry  into  life  and  the  mys¬ 
teries  of  her  infancy  ;  we  had  announced  her  divine  ma¬ 
ternity  ;  we  had  adored  the  Incarnate  Word  in  her  bosom; 
and  men,  ignorant  of  all,  were  obliged  to  learn  all  through 
our  ministry.” 

The  Soul  :  “But  this  dignity,  this  grandeur  you  were 
the  first  to  know,  which  you  announced  to  her,  which 
you  have  made  us  know,  does  she  owe  them  to  you?  Is 
it  not  on  account  of  us  and  for  us  that  Mary  became  the 
Mother  of  God  ? 

“  Without  the  Angels  an  immaculate  virgin  could  have 
existed,  a  creature  superior  to  all  creatures,  a  Mother  of 
God. 

“But  without  men,  with  a  heaven  full  of  Angels,  no 
Incarnation  was  possible,  no  divine  maternity. 


100 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

“  The  Angels  have  mingled  with  us,  they  hear  us,  they 
applaud  ns,  when  standing  in  the  temple  we  repeat,  while 
singing  the  symbol  of  our  faith: 

“Who  for  us  men  and  for  our  salvation  came  down 
from  heaven.”* 

Serapii:  “Nothing  more  true,  my  sister.  Still  listen 
and  see  what  affinity  unites  us  to  the  Mother  of  God. 

“By  her  exemption  from  original  sin,  and  her  perfect 
innocence,  Mary  belongs  to  the  class  of  those  preserved 
from  guilt. 

“  Represented  not  as  you  by  the  prodigal  son,  but 
with  us  by  the  elder  son,  she  is  of  the  world  of  Angels  ; 
she  is  of  our  tribe.” 

The  Soul:  “Mary  is  of  the  tribe  of  Angels  by  pre¬ 
servation  ;  she  is  of  that  of  men  by  the  Redemption. 

“Did  you  pot  inspire  our  Francis  of  Sales?  did  you 
not  dictate  to  him  his  words  the  day  he  wrote  : 

“  Mary  was  purchased  by  the  blood  which  the  Divine 
Word  had  taken  in  her.  She  had  all  the  innocence  the 
first  Adam  had  lost,  and  enjoyed  in  an  excellent  manner 
the  Redemption  the  new  one  acquired.  She  possessed 
the  happiness  of  the  two  states  of  human  nature.”! 

Seraph  :  “  Between  the  Angels  and  Francis  of  Sales 
there  is  never  disagreement.  The  Doctor  of  charity  will 
approve  my  language,  if  I  add  : 

“Mary  has  the  tastes  and  inclination  of  pure  spirits. 

She  unites  in  herself  all  the  perfections  of  the  Angelic 
Choirs.  '■  ;  .a|| 

*Nicene  Creed.  Christ  did  not  die  for  the  angels.  (  Theologia  Claremontanus , 

De  Merito  Christi.  The  Thoiuists  and  others  commonly.  St.  Aug,  ad  Lauren- 
tium,  c.  61.) 

f  Treatise  of  the  Love  of  God,  2  part,  c.  20. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  101 

“  Are  not  these  real  family-features,  and  can  we  not 
regard  Mary  as  our  sister?” 

The  Soul:  “  Mary  has,  like  man,  a  body  and  a  soul; 
she  is  not  a  pure  spirit. 

“Exempt  from  the  stain  of  original  sin,  she  descends 
nevertheless  from  the  head  of  humanity.  From  him  she 
has  received,  like  us,  her  blood  and  her  flesh.  She  has 
possessed  human  nature  completely,  to  transmit  it  to  the 
Redeemer  in  its  completeness. 

“We  are  united  to  her  by  the  spiritual  and  material 
bonds  of  family.  She  is  our  relation  and  our  sister;  ’tis 
we  who  are  the  brethren  of  the  Virgin  Mary.” 

Seraph  :  “Think  that  we  are  the  soldiers  of  her 
armies,  the  subjects  of  her  empire,  the  servants  of  her 
household. 

“  By  our  ministry,  we  see  her  exalted  in  heaven,  be¬ 
loved  on  earth,  feared  in  hell. 

“Beautiful  titles  and  glorious  duties!” 

The  Soul:  “Duties  more  glorious!  titles  more  beau¬ 
tiful  !  we  are  her  children. 

“When  on  the  summit  of  Calvary,  the  expiring  Re_ 
deemer  exclaimed:  Behold  thy  mother!  to  whom  was 
that  divine  legacy  bequeathed?  and  who  was  called  to 
receive  it? 

“  Seraphs  burning  with  love,  spirits  of  all  the  choirs, 
you  were  there.  Which  one  of  you  dared  advance? 
Which  one  of  you  came  to  receive  Mary  as  his  mother? 

“In  the  presence  of  your  motionless  phalanxes,  it  was 
a  man,  or  rather  it  was  humanity  that  came,  in  the  person 
of  the  well-beloved  disciple,  to  receive  for  his  mother  the 
Mother  of  the  Redeemer. 


102 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


“Mary  brought  forth  in  exile:  we  are  the  children  of 
her  grief.” 

Seraph  :  “  During  the  time  of  our  trial,  we  received 
precious  graces,  in  view  of  the  merits  of  the  Redeemer 
and  of  Ilis  holy  Mother. 

“In  the  bosom  even  of  glory,  we  have  received  of 
Jesus,  through  Mary,  and  of  Mary  herself,  an  increase 
of  happiness. 

“Neither  time  nor  eternity  will  be  able  to  say  how 
much  we  owe  to  the  Son  and  to  the  Mother.” 

The  Soul:'  “We  owe  them  still  more.  We  owe  them 
not  at  all  only  accidental  beatitude,  but  essential  beati- 
tude  itself.  They  took  humanity  from  a  very  low  con¬ 
dition  to  raise  it  to  a  very  high  one.  « 

“They  came  to  take  it  in  the  very  depth  of  the  abyss, 
at  the  level  of  sin,  there  whither  no  blessed  spirit  de¬ 
scended,  to  raise  us  to  what  height?  To  the  throne 
even  of  the  Divinity.* 

“To  human  nature  then  the  first  place,  in  heaven, 
over  angelic  nature.” 

Seraph:  “I  applaud  thy  language,  my  sister,  and  I 
recognize  the  justice 'of  thy  cause.  I  willingly  pardon  a 
vivacity  which  I  have  provoked,  and  in  which  I  love  to 
see  burst  forth  the  ardor  of  thy  love.” 


*  To-day  angels  and  archangels  have  seen  our  nature  resplendent  with  im¬ 
mortal  glory  on  the  throne  of  the  Lord. 


BOOK  THE  SEVENTH. 


THE  RELATIONS  OF  ANGELS  WITH  MAN. 


I. 

MAN. 

After  the  Incarnate  Word,  and  His  Most  Blessed 
Mother,  nothing  in  time  is  more  dear  to  us  than  man. 
The  child  of  God,  the  brother  of  Christ,  the  king  of  cre¬ 
ation  ;  was  it  possible  that  he  should  not  be  the  friend  of 
the  Angels?  Our  interests  are  his  interests,  our  good 
his  good.  Our  relations  with  him,  too,  are  but  an  un¬ 
interrupted  flow  of  affectionate  regard  and  good  offices.* 

See  his  place  and  his  part  in  the  divine  work. 

God  had  given  the  material  universe  a  foundation  of 
mineral,  ornament  of  plants,  animated  beings  for  inhabi¬ 
tants. 

With  its  proportion,  brightness,  and  life,  this  universe 
united  together  a  thousand  beauties.  It  was  neverthe¬ 
less  imperfect.  It  was  not  one  with  the  intellectual 
world  ;  there  was  a  gap.  Between  pure  intelligence  and 
animals  gifted  with  sense,  there  was  a  void  to  be  filled. 

Sovereign  wisdom  has  nothing  in  Ilis  works  that  jars  ; 
it  acts  gradually,  joining  the  parts  with  each  other,  im¬ 
pressing  on  what  is  made  the  seal  of  unity. 

*Uur  salvation  interests  the  angels  much,  and  they  think  it  in  a  manner  their 
own.  (St.  Thomas  of  Villauova,  Serm.  on  the  Angels.)  Since  they  deem  our 
good  their  own."  (St.  J.  Chrysistom,  on  the-  Ascension.) 

(  103) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


104 

TI113  wonderful  union  was  to  be  realized  by  the 
creation  of  man.  Man  wa3  to  bring  to  the  intellectual 
world  and  to  the  material  world  what  was  wanting  to 
each  to  effect  a  mutual  companionship.  Belonging  to 
two  orders  of  creatures  that  had  come  forth  from  the  hand 
of  the  Creator,  man  will  make  them  one  in  his  person. 

We  waited,  as  it  were,  breathless,  this  prodigy  of  Al¬ 
mighty  Power. 

A  body  is  formed,  beautiful,  graceful,  harmonious, 
raised  above  all  other  matter;  but  awaiting,  to  appear  in 
its  perfection,  a  complement  of  superior  nature,  a  soul. 

A  soul  is  created,  of  a  nature  that  has  something  of 
our  own,  ornamented  with  faculties  analogous  to  ours, 
the  breath  and  image  of  God,  spark  of  the  divine  life  ; 
nevertheless  an  incomplete  being,  demanding  for  the  ac¬ 
complishment  of  its  destiny  help  taken  from  beneath  it, 
a  body. 

F.om  the  moment  soul  and  body  are  united,  what  a 
mystery!  One  sole  principle  living  in  two  substances! 
One  sole  person  in  two  natures!  one  only  being!  one 
only  person! 

It  is  in  this |  union" of  fouI  and  of  body  we  find  the 
sacred  tie,  the  point  of  jointure  of  the  two  worlds.* 

To  himself,  alone,  man  is  a  microcosm,  a  little  world, 
summing  up  in  himself  the  inferior  world  of  bodies  and 
representing  the  superior  world  of  intelligence. f 

With  what  admiration  did  we  not  approach  this  master¬ 
piece  of  God!  For  the  first  time,  in  that  look,  upon 

*  What  is  highest  in  the  inferior  order  reaches  the  lowest  in  the  superior. 
(St.  Thomas.)  Man  is  the  end,  the  totality,  the  link,  and  the  cenire  of  all  crea¬ 
tures.  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  an  Genesis ,  c.  1.) 

f  On  this  account  man  is  said  to  be  a  smaller  world,  because  every  creature  of 
the  world  is  found  in  him.  (St.  Thomas,  1,  q.  91,  art.  1.) 

>  .  '  '  r  s  ■  '  "  -  “  '  |  1 


V 


MEMOIRS  OR  A  SERAPH.  105 

those  lips,  in  that  attitude,  we  saw  matted  express  the 
beauties  and  the  perfections  of  spirit. 

We  blessed  God  ior  having  attached  us  to  inferior 
creation  by  such  noble  ties.  Such  as  God  has  brought 
it  into  being,  in  fact,  this  creature  pleases  us,  and  we 
love  it. 

We  love  the  grain  of  dust;  it  has  claimed  the  look 
and  the  thought  of  the  Infinite.  To  receive  being  and 
subsistence  it  required  the  exercise  of  Almighty  Power. 

We  love  the  plant.  In  it  begins  the  great  mystery  of 
life.  Hidden  in  a  germ,  the  principle  of  life  develops 
itself  spontaneously,  conforming  to  the  type  which  is  in 
the  mind  of  the  Creator. 

We  love  still  more  the  animal,  that  feels,  suffers,  en¬ 
joys,  moves  itself,  and  which,  though  without  intelligence, 
presents  some  image  of  it. 

We  especially  love  man,  in  whom  are  united  the  min¬ 
eral,  the  plant,  the  animal,  and  who,  raising  himself 
above  material  creation,  dominates  it,  rules  it,  and  brings 
it  to  the  confines  of  the  spirit- world.* 

The  body,  representing  inferior  creatures,  will  <  re¬ 
produce  itself  like  them,  and  multiply.  All  mankind 
will  descend  from  one  man. 

The  soul,  representing  superior  creatures,  will  not  pro¬ 
duce  other  souls,  and  will  not  propagate  itself.  Each  soul 
will  be  created  independently  of  others,  as  was  the  case 
with  each  pure  spirit. 

In  man  will  be  simultaneously  manifested  the  laws  that 
govern  the  lowest  creatures,  as  well  as  those  the  most 
elevated  follow. 

*0n  the  confine  of  spiritual  and  corporal  creatures.  (St.  Thomas  1,  q.  77, 
art.  2.) 


106 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


/ 

II. 

THE  GOLDEN  AGE. 

\ 

Awaiting  the  day  when,  in  man  and  by  man?  the 
earth  will  raise  itself  to  heaven,  heaven  by  our  relations 
and  functions  humbles  itself  and  descends  to  earth. 

We  love  to  come  contemplate  in  man  innocent  the 
divine  likeness,  and  the  features,  as  it  were  blocked  out, 
of  the  humanity  of  the  Word. 

We  cherish  man  as  a  fellow  citizen  who  is  to  dwell  in 
the  same  city  with  us,  as  a  companion  who  is  to  be  with 
us  for  eternity,  as  a  brother  who  is  to  come  to  the  pa¬ 
ternal  fireside,  occupy  the  places  left  vacant  by  our  faith¬ 
less  brethren,  as  a  pupil  entrusted  to  our  care  and  to  our 
love  by  the  King  of  heaven. 

In  each  pure  Spirit  we  see  only  the  spirit  itself.  In 
Adam  we  see  multitudes;  we  see  innumerable  descend¬ 
ants,  all  the  generations  to  come,  all  the  human  rape 
which  will  constitute  his  family  and  that  of  Christ. 

Obedient  to  the  word  of  the  Creator,  Eve  and  Adam 
will  increase  and  multiply.  Their  children  will  be  prop¬ 
agated  from  age  to  age,  and  will  cover  the  face  of  the 
earth. 

From  this  elevated  height  where  we  see  them,  from 
this  point  of  departure  of  their  existence,  what  an  hori¬ 
zon!  In  these  two  hearts,  what  a  source  of  love,  of 
virtue,  of  grace,  of  glory  ! 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


107 


We  live  in  sweet  union  with  the  ancestors  of  the 
human  race.  Without  being  glorified,  their  bodies  are 
no  obstacle  to  their  relations  with  us  ;  and  the  aspect  of 
the  bodies  we  assume  always  gives  them  joy. 

We  charm  their  sight  by  the  sweetness  and  brilliancy  of 
our  countenance,  their  ears  by  the  harmony  of  our  sing¬ 
ing,  their  spirit  by  the  grand  truths  we  reveal,  their 
heart  by  the  tender  love  we  manifest. 

We  speak  to  them  in  the  name  and  on  the  part  of  God. 
They  listen  to  our  voice  as  to  Ilis.  They  are  full  of  re¬ 
spect  and  submission,  but  they  do  not  experience  any 
fear.  In  their  look,  voice,  movements,  bearing,  all 
breathes  confidence. 

As  pure,  but  happier  than  the  infant  coming  forth 
from  the  waters  of  baptism,  they  find  in  themselves  and 
around  them  only  a  source  of  happiness. 

Above  their  heads  the  azure  is  spotless,  and  the  stars 
exert  no  malign  influence.  The  elements  offer  them  a 
thousand  aids,  without  rigor  or  danger.  The  earth  gives 
forth  from  its  bosom  sweet  fruits  and  smiling  harvests. 
The  flowers  breathe  their  perfumes  without  mingling  in 
them  poison,  and  display  hues  which  wounding  thorns  do 
not  surround.* 

We  are  pleased  to  see  the  king  of  creation  exercise 
his  empire,  and  dominate,  according  to  the  order  he  has 
received  from’ God,  over  animated  creatures. f 

How  beautiful  the  sight,  as  the  animals  newly  created 
pass  before  the  eyes  of  Adam  !  They  are  brought 

*Man  in  a  state  of  innocence  ruled  over  the  plants  and  inanimate  things  not 
by  empire  or  change,  but  by  using  their  help  without  impediment.  (St.  Thomas 
1,  q.  9(5,  art.  2.) 

f  As  long  as  he  remained  subject  to  God,  things  below  him  were  subject  to 
him.  (St.  Aug.  on  the  Remission  of  Sins.,  1.  1,  c.  It).) 


108 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


thither  by  our  ministry,  and  receive  from  his  mouth  the 
names  that  express  their  qualities.* 

They  are  mild,  courageous,  majestic,  without  sign  of 
degradation  and  slavery.  Their  forms,  attitude,  their 
colors,  their  movements,  all  is  graceful.  Adam  passes 
his  hand  caressingly  over  the  mane  of  the  lion,  and  the 
lion  replies  with  a  roar  that  expresses  grandeur  rather  than 
menace.f  The  birds  played  in  the  air  that  surrounded 
him,  making  it  resound  with  their  songs  full  of  freshness. 
Their  melodies  breathed  joy  and  content.  Plaintive 
notes  of  pain  were  unknown. 

In  him  as  around  him  everything  is  a  source  of  happi¬ 
ness;  in  his  spirit  there  is  sure  and  unfailing  light;  in 
his  heart  peaceful  joy  and  pure  pleasure  ;  rectitude  and 
firmness  in  his  will  ;  beauty  and  strength  in  his  body  ; 
wonderful  perfections  in  his  faculties  and  senses;  and 
ravishing  harmony  between  his  soul  and  body.J 

In  a  word,  there  is  charm  perpetual  and  inexhaustible 
of  the  first  spring-tide  of  the  world;  undying  freshness, 
everything  that  makes  up  the  young  universe,  smiles  un¬ 
changingly:  the  continued  age  of  gold. 

*  The  animals  were  led  to  Adam  by  the  ministry  of  angels,  that  he  might 
name  them.  (St.  Aug.  on  Genesis ,  c.  9.) 

fïhen  all  animals  would  have  obeyed  man  of  themselves,  as  some  domestic 
animals  now  do.  (St.  Thomas  1,  q.  96,  art.  1.) 

I  God  made  mao  right.  This  rectitude  consisted  in  the  subjection  of  reason 
to  God,  ihe  inferior  faculties  to  reason,  the  body  to  the  soul.  The  first  subjec¬ 
tion  was  the  cause  of  the  second  and  third.  As  long  as  reason  remained  subA 
ject  to  God,  inferior  things  were  subject  to  it.  (St.  Thomas  1,  q.  96,  art.  1.) 


I 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


109 


ITT. 

THE  FALL. 

In  proportion  as  this  beautiful  spectacle  of  man’s  hap¬ 
piness  rejoicess  the  angels,  so  does  it  sadden  the  demons. 
Among  the  punishments  of  Satan,  there  there  is  one  that 
torments  him  in  a  most  lively  manner,  and  allows  him  no 
truce  nor  repose  :  envy.* 

From  the  moment  man  was  created,  received  the  mis¬ 
sion  to  bear  the  image  and  likeness  of  God  in  the  midst 
of  creatures,  was  placed  as  lord  in  the  centre  of  the  uni¬ 
verse,  king  and  pontiff  of  creation,  and  destined,  in  him¬ 
self  and  in  his  descendants,  to  fill  the  places  left  vacant 
by  the  apostates,  Satan  only  dreams  of  his  fall. 

He  knows  that  a  fall  is  possible  ;  he  knows  of  the  pro¬ 
hibition  to  touch  the  tree  of  the  knowledge  of  good  and 
of  evil  ;  he  is  agitated  in  thinking  that  Adam  can  violate 
that  precept,  and  that  in  violating  it  he  will  bring  about 
the  ruin  of  all  mankind.  He  is  going  to  try  to  take  him 
by  surprise,  to  blind  him,  to  make  him  prove  faithless. 

Adam  cannot  be  ignorant  of  what  he  owes  to  God. 
Nature,  smiling  in  him,  calls  for  his  benedictions  and  for 
his  thanksgiving.  Interiorly,  even  more  than  outwardly, 
he  is  inundated  with  light  producing  in  him  love,  clothing 
him  with  strength,  making  the  duty  of  obedience  dear  and 
sacred. 


*  Having  fallen,  be  envies  man  who  stands.  (St.  Aug.  on  Christian  Doctrine,  c.  7.) 


110 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


Moreover,  Adam  has  been  warned;  he  knows  Satan, 
the  Enemy,  the  Accuser,  the  Tempter,  the  Adversary; 
he  learned  from  us  the  history  of  the  apostate,  his  re¬ 
volt,  his  fall,  his  damnation,  his  hate,  his  trickery.  As 
Adam  is  to  be  proved,  he  must  felicitate  himself  that  it 
is  to  be  by  a  spirit  whose  character  and  destiny  are  so 
well  known  to  him. 

Satan  cannot  put  up  with  that  in  man  which  he  does 
not  possess  himself.  In  the  happiness  of  God  he  sees 
injustice,  provocation,  defiance:  he  has  sworn  to  disturb 
it.  What  will  he  gain  by  so  doing?  Nothing.  But  he 
will  be  revenged,  even  should  it  make  him  more  miser¬ 
able  still.  Being  damned  himself,  he  would  that  every 
creature  should  be  so  too.  This  is  his  preoccupation, 
his  dream,  the  end  of  all  his  efforts.  He  said  to  him¬ 
self  : 

“  Man  is  armed  ;  am  I  not  so  too  ?  Have  I  not  in  my 
arsenal  all  the  weapons  I  want?  ruse,  cunning,  lies,  hy¬ 
pocrisy,  audacity:  what  means  is  there  I  have  not? 

“Man,  it  is  true,  has  different  arms,  against  which 
mine  are  of  no  avail.  The  crown  of  mv  art  will  be  to 
know  how  to  despoil  him  of  them,  little  by  little. 

“Hoes  he  know  as  I  do  the  secrets  of  the  dark  war¬ 
fare  ?  Will  he  not  be  as  unskillful  and  inexperienced  in 
in  it  as  a  novice  ? 

“And  that  body,  with  its  organs  and  senses,  its  deli¬ 
cacy  and  its  grossness,  will  it  not  give  me  a  hold  more 
easily  than  a  simple  spirit?” 

Behold  Satan  at  work.  He  uses  supernatural  power 
that  has  been  left  him  ;  he  becomes  incarnate  in  the  ser¬ 
pent.  Like  the  serpent,  he  creeps,  glides,  goes  unper¬ 
ceived.  Having  entered  Eden,  he  turns  away  from  Adam  ; 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  1H 

he  goes  towards  Eve,  who  seems  to  him  weaker,  and  less 
on  her  guard. 

He  has  twined  himself  around  a  tree.  He  plays  there 
in  graceful  curves,  in  undulating  folds.  He  makes  his 
scales  of  gold  and  azure  shine  in  the  light.  He  takes  a 
human  voice  ;  he  speaks  like  man  ;  he  says  to  Eve  : 

‘‘Why  not  eat  of  the  fruit  of  this  tree?”  “God  has 
forbidden  us  to  do  so.  From  the  instant  we  touch  it,  we 
shall  die.”  “  You  will  not  die  at  all  ;  but  you  will  be  like 
to  gods,  knowing  good  and  evil.”* 

Eve  has  felt  the  the  attacks  of  sensuality,  of  curiosity, 
of  vanity  ;  questions  crowd  upon  her  mind  : 

“The  serpent  is  raised  above  its  nature;  it  speaks 
like  man  ;  is  it  not  because  he  has  çaten  of  that  fruit  ? 
Why  should  not  this  fruit  work  a  still  greater  wonder? 
Why  should  it  not  make  us  see  and  speak  like  gods?  ” 

The  Angels  of  paradise  run  to  her;  they  fly  to  the 
friends  of  God  ;  they  form  around  Eve  an  invincible  cir¬ 
cle  ;  they  murmur  to  her  ear: 

“And  'the  Word  of  the  Creator,  what  will  its  virtue 
become  ?  And  the  sanction  of  the  prohibition,  who  will 
make  it  naught?  Has  the  damnation  of  the  tempter 
ended  ?  Have  the  curse  upon  him,  and  his  punishment 
ceased  ?  Will  the  triumphant  shout  of  Michael  no  longer 
resound?  Answer  you  too:  Who  is  like  unto  God?” 

All  the  protecting  voices  of  heaven  and  earth  unite; 
all  are  smothered  by  temptation.  The  unhappy  beings 
see  nothing,  hear  nothing.  Eve  takes  the  fruit,  and  pre¬ 
sents  it  to  Adam.  Adam  receives  it,  and  eats  it  as  she 
dees.  The  disobedience  is  consummated. 


*  Genesis,  c.  3,  v.  1-5. 


112 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


0  God  !  behold  the  sacred  bond  that  joined  earth  to 
heaven  burst  asunder,  that  bond  uniting  bodies  with  pure 
spirits,  forming  a  universe  of  two  vast  worlds  !  * 

An  Angel  comes  in  the  name  of  God,  and  questions 
the  guilty  beings.  If  they  had  come  to  him  at  once,  if 
they  had  immediately  fallen  prostrate  on  the  ground, 
what  might  have  happened  ?  Who  knows  the  extent  of 
divine  mercy  ?  Perhaps  they  would  have  been  pardoned 
on  the  spot!  perhaps  there  would  have  been  no  ruin! 

But  they  fly;  they  hide  themselves;  they  seek  to  jus¬ 
tify  themselves;  they  discuss.  Mercy  passes;  justice 
comes;  their  eyes  are  opened,  and  what  have  they 
seen  ?f 

*  When  man  had  sinned  and  undergone  sentence  of  death,  the  angels  g  ieved 
very  much,  as  if  they  despaired  of  the  universe;  since  man  is  the  link  of  the 
whole  of  the  work  of  the  universe,  and  the  image  of  God.  (Cosmos  Endico» 
pleustes,  Topographia  Christiana ,  1.  2.) 
f  Genesis,  c.  3,  v.  7. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


113 


» 


\ 


iv. 

EXILE. 

They  have  seen  this  frightful  nakedness  of  body  and 
soul,  that  renders  them  an  object  of  shame  to  themselves. 
The  veil  of  innocence  which  adorned  them  to  the  eyes  of 
God  and  of  His  Angels  has  fallen.  With  long  labor 
henceforth  they  will  have  to  borrow  from  the  stems  of 
plants  and  from  the  spoils  of  animals  the  gross  com¬ 
ponents  of  their  garments.* 

They  saw  the  Cherub  armed  with  flaming  sword,  ad¬ 
vance  with  an  irritated  air,  drive  them  from  their  sojourn 
of  delight,  and  send  them  into  the  valley  of  tears.  For 
having  coveted  the  disordered  and  false  knowledge  that 
Satan  promised  them,  they  have  been  expelled  by  one  of 
those  shining  spirits,  representing  true  and  legitimate 
knowledge  which  fidelity  would  have  procured  them. 
See  them  plunged  already  into  that  sombre  atmosphere, 
which  is  the  vestibule  of  the  empire  of  darkness  !  f 
In  putting  foot  on  the  land  of  exile,  at  the  entry  to 
unknown  paths  to  which  they  find  themselves  forced,  the 
first  being  of  creation  that  presents  himself  to  them  is 
Satan.  Satan,  coming  to  meet  them,  salutes  them  with 
irony,  and,  holding  over  their  head  his  bare  and  angular 
wing,  says  to  them: 

“  Pass,  0  my  kings,  under  this  beautiful  triumphal 


♦Genesis,  c.  3,  v.  7. 
f  Genesis,  c.  3,  v.  23,  24. 


114 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SÉÈAPÎL 

arch  !  enter,  0  my  gods,  through  this  glorious  portal  ! 
Just  two  steps  away  is  the  throne  and  the  heaven  I  prom¬ 
ised  you!  ” 

Once  despoiled  of  their  crown,  they  feel  everywhere 
revolt.  In  themselves  and  outside  a  thousand  enemies 
show  themselves,  ready  to  make  them  expiate  their  diso¬ 
bedience  to  the  Creator. 

Their  spirit  having  become  the  friend  of  error  is  soon 
filled  with  false  images,  prejudices,  conceptions  faulty  and' 
strange.  Their  will  is  feeble  and  vacillating,  nor  knows 
how  to  fix  itself  on  what  is  good.  Their  heart  experi¬ 
ences  inclinations  the  most  unworthy  of  it,  and  attaches 
itself  without  rule  to  what  flatters  it.  Their  body,  in¬ 
stead  of  being  the  docile  instrument  of  the  soul,  has  its 
own  instincts,  tends  with  all  its  weight  to  evil,  and  but 
reflects  in  its  features  the  disorder  within. 

We  hastened  to  veil  the  face  of  that  beneficent  sun, 
the  rays  of  which  they  profaned.  We  heaped  black 
clouds  upon  the  beauteous  azure.  The  lightning  darted; 
the  thunder  pealed  ;  the  tempest  raged.  In  the  presence 
and  under  the  eye  of  an  irritated  Judge,  the  guilty  were 
icy  with  fright. 

Like  the  heavens,  the  earth  was  in  revolt.  In  man 
the  animals  no  longer  see  the  representative  of  the  Sov¬ 
ereign  Benefactor.  Looking  upon  him  as  an  enemy  hence¬ 
forth,  they  no  more  come  to  seek  his  caresses.  They 
refuse  him  their  services;  they  flee  him,  and,  vrhen 
he  runs  in  pursuit  of  them,  they  put  themselves  on  their 
defense,  and  threaten  in  their  turn.  If  man  wants  to 
reign,  he  must  gain  by  conquest  over  them  the  universe  * 


*The  animals,  a  short  time  before  subject  to  man,  withheld  due  obedience  to 
our  first  parent  when  he  disobeyed  God.  (Corn,  a  Lap.  on  Proverbs,  c.  21,  v.28.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


115 


Deprived  of  its  primal  fertility,  the  earth  is  bristling 
with  thorns.  When  man  came,  as  formerly,  to  say  to  it: 
“Give  me  thy  fruits  and  thy  harvests;”  the  earth  an¬ 
swered  haughtily  :  “  Give  me  the  fatigue  of  thy  arm  ! 
give  me  the  sweat  of  thy  brow  !  give  me  thy  labor  and 
thy  care  ?  ”  Half  submissive,  half  rebellious,  creation 
feels  in  man  authority  and  weakness,  dignity  and  misery.* 

In  him,  just  now  the  well-beloved  of  God  and  of  crea¬ 
tion,  how  all  has  changed!  Angels,  my  Brothers,  do 
you  recognize  him  ?  Where  is  that  serenity  which  sat  on 
his  brow  as  a  pure  sky  ?  What  a  sombre  mass  of  cloud  ! 
there  scarce  breaks  out  in  it  one  little  ray  of  his  former 
splendor.  In  the  twinkle  of  an  eye  cares,  sickness,  pain, 
every  misery,  have  risen  up  to  torture  him.  And  here 
at  the  end  of  his  career,  death,  it  too  appears,  lifting 
over  him  its  mournful  sceptre. 

What  is  most  frightful  for  man  is  the  spectacle  of  his 
ruin,  to  have  dragged  after  him  all  that  depended  on  him, 
the  creatures  that  surrounded  him,  and  the  race  that  will 
owe  him  life. 

“  Increase  and  multiply  !  Words  once  heard  with  so 
much  charm,”  cries  Adam,  “you  will  be  henceforth  my 
death  ;  for  what  can  I  now  make  increase  and  multiply 
save  death?  Death! — beautiful  patrimony  I  leave  you, 
O  my  children!  ” 

Son  of  Adam,  haste  not  to  utter  an  anathema! 

Had  you  seen  him,  as  we  did,  in  the  midst  of  scenes 
so  new  and  so  heart-rending,  before  the  inflamed  coun- 

*Genesis,  c.  3,  v.  17-19.  By  the  sin  of  Adam  the  goodness  of  the  primeval 
earth  and  its  fertility  were  impeded  and  lessened,  and  therefore  more  abun¬ 
dantly  and  in  more  places  it  produced  briars  and  thorns  than  before.  (£orn.  a 
Lap.  on  Genesis,  c.  3,  v.  17.) 


/ 


116  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

tenance  of  Cain,  by  the  lifeless  body  of  Abel;  had  you 
seen  him  suffering,  weak,  old,  bowed  towards  the  tomb, 
and  accepting  death  with  resignation  full  of  love;  had 
you  been  witness  of  that  penance  of  nine  hundred  years 
which  included  all  humiliation,  every  bitterness  and  all 
fervor,  for  a  fault  bewailed  as  never  fault  wiU  be,  you 
would  be  indulgent. 

You  would  be  indulgent,  thinking  that  if  Adam  had  not 
fallen,  still  each  of  his  descendants  would  have  been  put 
to  the  proof,  that  might  also  have  fallen,  and  that  no  one 
could  assert  that  fidelity  would  have  been  universal.* 

Consider  your  owm  faults,  so  numerous,  so  serious,  and 
see  if  they  are  less  excusable. 

Adam  was  created  and  lived  in  an  era  of  innocence  ; 
you  have  been  created  and  live  in  an  era  more  divine, 
that  of  the  Incarnation.  You  have  the  happiness  to  see 
the  beauties  and  the  natural  riches  of  Eden  replaced  by 
the  Cross,  the  Blessed  Eucharist,  the  sacraments,  and  all 
the  supernatural  treasures  of  Holy  Church. 

Have  therefore  respect  for  the  venerable  figure  of  him 
who  is  the  head  of  your  race,  the  ancestor  of  Christ,  the 
first  and  most  illustrious  of  penitents,  elect  of  God,  a 
saint  If' 

Cast  your  eyes  on  that  sacred  mount  of  Calvary,  which 
all  generations  will  learn  to  venerate.  Upon  that  high 

*Even  if  the  first  men  had  not  sinned,  some  of  them  could  have  committed 
iniquity.  They  would  not  then  be  born  confirmed  in  grace.  (St.  Thomas  1,  q. 
109,  art.  2.) 

t  Wisdom,  c.  10,  v.  2.  Hence  it  is  evident  that  Adam  repented  of  his  sin  of 
disobedience,  and  that  it  was  remitted.  In  fact  the  ancient  fathers  by  common 
tradition  and  consent  of  the  church  teach  that  Adam  was  saved:  wherefore  it 
is  rash  to  deny  this,  and  this  place  of  Wisdom  favors  the  view.  (Corn,  a  Lap. 
on  the  Book  of  Wisdom,  e.  10.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  H7 

hill,  the  one  in  which  will  be  fixed  one  day  the  foot  of 
the  Cross,  the  mortal  spoils  of  Adam  repose. 

He  will  be  the  first  whom  the  Blood  of  the  Redeemer 
will  bedew,  he  who  first  sinned  and  stained  his  soul. 
Divine  mercy  has  its  contrasts  ;  it  takes  complacency  in 
them,  loves  them!  Do  not,  0  men!  go  against  Divine 
mercy  !  * 

*It  is  the  common  opinion  of  the  Fathers  that  Adam  was  buried  on  Mt.  Cal¬ 
vary,  that  he,  who  was  the  first  author  of  sin,  should  be  saved,  experiencing 
first  the  power  of  the  Blood  of  Christ  crucified  in  the  same  place.  So  think 
Athana  ius.  Origen,  Basil,  Chrysostom,  Epiphanius,  Tertullian,  Cyprian,  Au¬ 
gustin,  Ambrose,  Jerome.  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  Ibid.) 


118 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


T. 

THE  TREASURE  OE  THE  EXILES. 

The  unfortunate  exiles  take  their  departure.  They 
are  traveling  across  this  desert,  and  in  this  place  of  tears, 
the  spot  wher^  all  ills  meet. 

They  have  bidden  an  eternal  adieu  to  paradise.  The 
Cherub  of  the  sword  of  fire  will  never  let  them  pass  the 
threshold.  They  will  never  see  those  trees,  those  flow¬ 
ers,  those  fields,  those  streams,  those  horizons,  that  first 
country,  upon  which  their  charmed  eyes,  as  they  opened, 
rested.  \ 

The  memory  only  of  that  age  of  gold  will  follow  the 
human  race  in  its  dispersion.  It  will  subsist  lively,  in¬ 
destructible,  through  all  upturnings  and  shipwrecks.  To 
the  end  will  it  be  repeated  that  the  most  beautiful  days 
of  man  were  the  first. 

In  his  disgrace,  man  bears  with  him  a  consolation  that 
the  fallen  Angels  did  not  carry  with  them  in  theirs.  In 
the  midst  of  the  darkness  there  will  shine  a  sweet  ray  ; 
in  his  want  there  will  remain  one  precious  treasure.  This 
treasure,  this  ray,  this  consolation,  is  hope.* 

A  Redeemer  has  been  promised,  not  to  free  him  from 
the  misery  of  the  present,  but  to  preserve  him  from  the 
evil  to  come.  In  different  conditions,  each  son  of  Adam 


*From  the  beginning  of  the  human  race  the  mystery  of  the  Incarnation  was 
predicted  and  prefigured  by  the  ministry  of  angels.  (St.  Aug.,  City  of  God,  1.  7. 
c.  32.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  119 

•will  be  tried  in  turn.  May  he  be  faithful,  and  one  day 
there  will  be  opened  to  him  a  paradise  better  than  the 
paradise  of  this  world. 

As  a  father  who  chastises  with  regret  his  disobedient 
son,  and  who,  in  sending  him  out  of  the  paternal  house, 
has  him  followed  by  a  servant  or  elder  brother  charged 
to  watch  over  him,  God  has  bidden  us  to  remain  by  these 
guilty  ones  always  so  loved,  to  aid  them,  assist  them, 
protect  them,  prepare  and  hasten  their  return. 

Elder  brothers  of  men,  we  take  our  departure  with 
them,  sent  by  our  common  father;  we  follow  them  into 
their  distant  exile,  where  we  shall  remain  their  friends, 
guardians,  their  intercessors  with  God. 

We  will  come  to  their  aid  against  weakness,  recalling 
to  them  often  the  promise  of  the  Redeemer,  revealing  to 
them  some  features  of  the  divine  figure,  preparing  them 
for  His  coming. 

At  His  arrival  we  will  conduct  them  to  meet  Him,  and 
will  teach  them  to  serve  Him  and  to  glorify  Him. 

Amid  afflicting  vicissitudes  they  will  have  to  traverse, 
we  shall  not  cease  to  see  in  them  the  depositaries  of 
divine  grace,  the  price  of  the  Divine  Blood,  the  predes¬ 
tined  to  eternal  glory. 

We  will  render  bearable  the  evils  of  exile,  teaching 
them  to  submit  to  them,  and  to  change  them  into  means 
of  securing  the  goods  of  their  heavenly  home. 

In  a  word,  we  shall  never  cease  to  be  for  them  com¬ 
panions  to  aid,  sure  friends,  faithful  guides.  It  will  be 
our  delight  to  illumine  them,  to  move  them,  to  bring  them 
back  to  the  arms  of  a  Father,  who  longs  for  their  recon¬ 
ciliation  to  Him. 

As  formidable  as  we  are  to  the  apostate  angels,  thus 


120  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

affable  and  mild  will  we  manifest  ourselves  to  unfortu¬ 
nate  men.  To  every  demon  we  shall  appear  sword  in 
hand;  before  every  man  wTe  will  bear  the  torch  of  hope. 

The  brilliant  ladder  rising  from  the  paradise  of  delight 
to  the  throne  of  God  has  been  displaced,  not  broken.  It 
has  remained  standing  ;  it  reposes  now  on  the  ground  of 
exile.  It  will  rest  by  turns  or  simultaneously  on  earth, 
on  limbo,  on  the  depth  of  purgatory,  and  will  always 
hold  to  the  threshold  of  the  heavenly  home.* 

We  are  in  continual  movement,  mounting  to  God  by 
our  adoration  and  offerings,  descending  to  man  by  our 
favors,  our  care,  and  all  the  details  of  our  ministry.! 

God  is  at  the  top  of  the  ladder,  and  leans  upon  it;  men 
are  at  its  foot,  and  attach  themselves  to  it.  We  are  the 
bond  of  union  and  the  tie  between  God  and  men. 

Following  the  patriarch  Jacob,  a  large  number  of 
saints  will  have  the  happiness  to  see  with  their  own  eyes, 
and  from  their  place  of  exile,  the  angelic  ladder.^ 

♦Genesis,  c.  28,  v.  12, 13. 

t  Angels  ascend  and  descend  as  ministers  and  executors  of  Divine  Providence, 
to  whom  singly  God  has  distributed  their  duties.  Corn,  a  Lap.  on  Genesis ,  c.  8.) 

X  St.  Otho,  St.  Lugendus,  St.  Sadoth,  St.  Bathilda. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


121 


VI 

PERIL. 

“They  have  fallen  as  we,”  says  Satan,  “and  they 
would  never,  like  us,  have  been  ruined  !  After  having 
committed  the  fault,  they  would  find  grace  !  Having  be¬ 
come  objects  of  hatred,  they  were  to  be  objects  of  love! 

“No,  no,  Satan  will  not  permit  that  this  be.  Satan 
will  never  suffer  this  shame. 

“  When  they  were  innocent,  strong  in  the  integrity  of 
of  their  nature,  I  overcame  them.  Shall  I  not  be  able 
to  conquer  them  anew,  now  they  present  themselves  to 
me  weakened,  enfeebled,  in  so  many  ways  less  provided? 

“But  what!  What  have  I  heard?  What  is  that 
word  ?  A  prophecy,  a  menace,  a  new  challenge  ? 

“  She  shall  crush  thy  head.  * 

“The  head  of  Lucifer?  that  head  seat  of  the  highest 
intelligence  ?  the  most  independent  and  fiercest  that  has 
appeared,  the  first  that  dared  to  rise  up  and  oppose  the 
Most  High! 

“She  will  crush  it? — she,  this  feeble,  weak  creature, 
woman  ? 

“She  will  crush  it?  and  in  the  most  contemptuous 
manner?  like  a  reptile  that  creeps,  like  the  lowest  of  ob¬ 
jects,  like  that  which  is  beneath  all  !  under  her  foot? 

“Has  she  forgotten  that  I  have  against  her  the  re- 


•fcre'nerfs,  c.  3,  v.  lD. 


I 


122  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

sources  of  ambush  and  of  hate  ? *  *  It  is  in  this  cunning 
I  shall  find  my  arms  ;  it  is  in  this  hate  I  will  temper  my 
courage.” 

Witnesses  of  the  rage  of  Lucifer,  we  excited  our 
friends  to  vigilance. 

To  destroy  a  soul,  and  make  it  share  his  punishment, 
there  is  nothing  Lucifer  will  not  do.  ’Tis  a  hatred  equal 
to  that  he  has  vowed  against  the  Redeemer;  it  is  on  the 
Redeemer  he  wants  to  take  his  revenge.  He  can  do 
nothing  against  His  Person  ;  he  will  concentrate  on  His 

O  o  7 

image  all  his  insults. f 

He  sees  souls  in  possession  of  their  liberty.  He  knows 
he  cannot  overcome  by  violence.  As  in  the  day  of  his 
first  triumph,  lie  will  use  suggestion  and  ruse.  Not  to 
frighten  them  by  the  hideousness  of  his  aspect,  he  will 
become  incarnate  in  agents  ready  to  second  him.  He 
will  present  fruit,  make  it  show  to  advantage,  praise  its 
taste,  tell  of  its  imaginary  qualities  ;  he  will  give  it,  and 
will  seize  a  world. $ 

He,  who  has  fallen  through  pride,  knows  the  powder  of 
pride  to  separate  and  alienate  from  God.  He  puts  every¬ 
thing  in  play  to  puff  up  that  heart,  to  make  it  self-com¬ 
placent,  to  make  it  create  for  itself  rights  without  limit, 
and  look  on  itself  as  independent. 

Removed  by  his  spiritual  nature  from  that  vice  the 
Angels  do  not  name,  and  which  man  should  not,  he  feels 
an  infernal  regret;  but  his  agents  will  come  to  his  aid. 

Genesis,  c.  3,  v.  15. 

*That  he  may  revenge  himself  against  God  who  punishes  him,  be  attacks  His 
image,  which  he  uses  as  the  instrument  of  his  malice,  that  he  may  insult  the 
Divine  Exemplar.  (Vivien,  on  St.  Michael.) 

Î  He  gives  the  apple  and  steals  away  paradise.  (St.  Bernard,  on  the  Grades  of 
Humility.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


123 


They  will  commit  the  crime  he  will  not  be  able  to  perpe¬ 
trate  ;  they  will  soil  themselves  with  the  vice  with  which 
he. could  not  taint  himself;  he  will  make  this  vice,  and 
the  love  of  gold,  the  motive  power  and  life  of  human 
society. 

Should  it  happen  that  God,  to  humble  a  soul  and  sub¬ 
mit  it  to  exceptional  proof,  permit  that  it  be  possessed 
bodily,  to  what  ignominy  will  Satan  reduce  it!  In  those 
words,  those  cries,  that  fury,  that  degradation!  Even 
then,  nevertheless,  Satan  does  not  have  full  liberty. 
Judge  what  he  would  do,  had  he  for  one  instant  full 
power!  His  avowals,  in  the  midst  of  exorcisms,  reveal 
often  the  ardor  and  tenacity  of  his  malice. 

The  least  of  the  devils  has  in  his  nature  more  power 
than  all  souls  united.* *  But  we  chain  that  power  by  our 
action.  That  is  one  of  his  greatest  punishments. f 

He  is  so  anxious  to  ruin  a  soul  that  he  is  never  cast 
down.  If  that  soul  resists  and  triumphs,  he  goes  in 
search  of  spirits  more  wicked-  than  himself  and  more 
powerful,  and  returns.  J 

He  will  let  pass  days  and  years,  but  will  not  leave. 
He  will  turn  everything  to  profit  to  tempt  more  strongly. 
He  will  present  himself  at  every  avenue,  will  be  found  on 
every  way,'  will  reappear  on  every  occasion.  His  near* 
ness,  his  presence,  his  breath,  will  light  up  evil  passions, 
tarnish  the  rays  of  the  most  beautiful  sun,  and  dim  the 
purest  gold.  || 

*  The  devil  by  the  strength  of  his  nature  ovei comes  everything  human.  (St. 
Gregory,  Morals,  1.  34.) 

f  The  demons  consider  it  a  torment  and  suffering  if  they  are  not  allowed  to 
hurt  men.  (Theophylactus,  on  St.  Matthew.) 

*St.  Matth.,  c.  12,  v.  45. 

f  Job,  c.  41,  v.  12-21. 


124 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


What  difference*  to  him  to  be  put  off  and  delayed  dur¬ 
ing  time,  if  it  be  at  length  given  him  to  get  possession 
of  the  soul,  and  have  it  in  his  power  in  eternity  ? 

Has  he  succeeded  in  precipitating  that  soul  into  evil  ? 
what  precautions  does  he  not  take  to  keep  it  there! 
He  hastens  to  blind  it  to  its  condition,  inspiring  boldness 
and  audacity.  Should  conscience  and  remorse  speak  too 
loudly,  he  passes  to  the  opposite  extreme  ;  he  casts  it 
into  discouragement  and  despair. 

And  how  many  are  the  wicked  spirits  engaged  in  this 
ministry  of  perdition?  Numberless  are  their  cohorts, 
numberless  their  legions.  The  prince  of  this  world,  the 
dweller  in  the  cloudy  air,  the  conjurer  of  darkness  of  the 
present,  has  his  emissaries  on  all  sides:  he  sends  some¬ 
times  hundreds  and  thousands  against  a  single  soul.* 
How,  alas!  will  man  escape  him?  how  will  he  be  saved? 
he,  who  of  himself  tends  to  sin,  allows  himself  to  be 
fascinated  and  led  astray  by  a  thousand  deceitful  ob¬ 
jects?! 

*St.  Luke.c.  8,  v.  20. 

f  Many  perish  even  without  the  devil.  (St.  John  Chrysostom,  Horn.  64,  on  the 
Acts.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


125 


VII. 

THE  DEFENSE. 

But  in  our  hearts  awakens  a  zeal  more  burning  than 
the  hate  of  Satan,  stronger  than  all  his  rage. 

This  soul,  exposed  to  such  terrible  assaults  andin  such 
great  danger,  what  a  price  has  it  not  cost  Thee,  0  sweet 
Redeemer!  For  it,  to  save  it,  Thy  Blood  flowed,  Thy 
members  palpitated,  Thy  heart  was  transfixed,  Thy  last 
breath  was  given.* 

This  soul,  Thy  masterpiece,  Thy  conquest,  the  object 
of  Thy  complacency,  is  our  Sister;  her  honor  is  dear  to 
us;  her  happiness  must  be  one  with  our  own  one  day. 

Everything  urges  us  to  go  to  her  succor,  to  shield  her 
with  our  wings,  to  carry  her  in  our  arms,  to  withdraw 
her  from  the  shafts  of  her  enemies. 

How  sweet  for  us  is  the  mission  which  consecrates 
these  dispositions,  and  makes  easy  the  accomplishment 
of  such  lively  desires! 

To  the  Choir  of  Powers  is  given  the  charge  especially 
to  restrain  and  bind  the  rage  of  the  demons;  to  the 
Guardian  Angel  to  protect  the  soul  entrusted  to  it;  to 
each  of  us  a  part  in  the  great  ministry  of  its  defense. 

We  are  called  to  concur  by  divers  means  in  the  salva¬ 
tion  of  those  who  are  to  have  an  eternal  inheritance. 
- —  —  ... 

♦They  love  us  because  Christ  loves  us.  (St.  Bernard,  on  St.  Michael.)  They 
love  us  on  account  of  God,  whose  bowels  of  mercy  they  see  poured  out  around 
us.  (Peter  of  Blois,  on  St.  Michael,) 


126 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


The  number  of  man’s  defenders  is  the  very  number  of 
the  Angels.* 

The  servant  of  Eliseus  said  to  his  master: 

“There  is  no  safety  for  us;  see  the  immense  army 
that  is  going  to  surround  us.” 

“Look,”  replied  the  prophet,  “see  you  not  the  legions 
still  more  numerous  that  cover  the  side  of  the  mountain, 
and  are  there  to  defend  us?  ”f 

The  servant  saw  nothing.  “Open  his  eyes,  0  Lord!” 
cried  Eliseus,  “  and  may  this  child  cease  to  fear.” 

Open,  0  Lord!  the  eyes  of  man,  and  he  will  see  us 
vigilant  sentinels  placed  upon  the  walls  of  the  earthly 
Jerusalem,  to  tell  him  of  his  peril  and  to  shield  him  from 
his  enemy. 

A  thousand  times  more  powerful  than  those  of  the  de¬ 
mons  are  the  armies  of  the  good  Angels  sent  of  God  to 
protect  and  save  man. 

The  ministry  of  our  protection  has  for  its  aim  not  to 
dispense  man  from  the  struggle,  but  to  make  it  possible 
for  him,  and  facilitate  the  victory. 

We  restrain,  by  virtue  of  our  will,  the  power  of  the 
tempter;  we  prevent  his  extending  his  efforts  by  limits 
fixed  by  the  decrees  of  divine  mercy,  so  that  man  may 
not  be  tempted  above  his  strength.^: 

At  the  same  time  we  sustain  the  will  of  man;  we  for¬ 
tify  his  free-will  ;  we  open  to  him  the  treasures  of  grace 
and  invite  him  to  draw  from  them  what  he  needs. 


*St.  Paul,  Hebr.,  c.  1,  v.  14.  . 
f  IV  Kings,  c.  6,  v.  16. 

X  God,  by  the  economy  of  Providence,  by  -which  He  regulates  created  nature, 
subjects  he  evil  spirits  to  the  good  angels,  that  the  wickedness  of  the  bad  may 
do,  not  what  it  strives  to  do,  but, as  much  as  it  is  allowed.  (St.  A.ug.,  on  Genesis , 
I.  2,  c.  29.)  v 


9 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


127 


We  keep  souls  on  their  guard  against  the  snares  of  the 
tempter,  and  reveal  his  designs.  We  inspire  them  with 
humility,  detachment,  purity,  vigilance.  These  virtues 
are  like  so  many  bucklers  against  which  the  hardest 
shafts  are  splintered. 

All  the  power  God  has  given  us  against  the  demons, 
we  put  at  the  disposal  of  souls.  They  have  only  to  re¬ 
cur  to  us.  On  no  occasion,  in  no  circumstance,  will  our 
assistance  ever  be  wanting  to  them. 

We  will  open  to  them  always,  and  everywhere,  the 
way  through  the  army  that  besieges  them.  It  will  de¬ 
pend  only  on  themselves  whether  they  overcome  and  are 
saved. 

If  in  spite  of  the  assistance  of  so  many  powerful  pro¬ 
tectors,  souls  succumb  and  become  the  prey  of  the  de¬ 
mons,  ’ tis  because  they  remain  free  and  can  lose  them¬ 
selves  in  the  midst  of  a  deluge  of  grace.  To  be  effica¬ 
cious  our  action  calls  for  their  concurrence.* 

God  has  confided  to  us  the  mission  of  assisting  them, 
not  in  the  paths  of  crime,  but  in  the  ways  Re  has  traced 
out  for  them,  and  which  are  their  ways.  ’Tis  there  we 
call  them,  hold  out  our  hand  to  them,  offer  them  our  aid.f 

If  by  self-indulgence  and  blindness,  they  precipitate 
into  the  broad  road  of  danger  to  which  the  tempter  calls 
them,  they  fall  into  their  own  weakness,  and  verify  the 
word  spoken  by  God:  “lie  who  loves  the  danger  shall 
perish  in  it. ’’J 

*Tlie  angel  fulfils  his  office  as  far  as  depends  on  him,  not  as  far  as  regards 
man.  The  fault  is  to  be  laid  to  the  charge  of  the  frailty  of  maa,  not  of  the  an¬ 
gel.  (Peter  of  Poitiers,  Sentences,  1.  2,  c.  6.) 

f  Ps.  9  ’,  v.  11.  Nor  did  He  bid  the  angels  guard  us  in  all  ways,  but  in  all  our 
ways.  (St.  Bern.,  Serm.  12,  on  Ps.  90.) 

Î  Ecclesiastic  us,  c.  3,  v.  27. 


128 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


How  much  zeal  and  love  rendered  useless  by  want  of 
generosity  and  good  will  !  On  the  other  hand,  how  much 
solicitude  and  care  crowned  with  success  by  faithful  cor¬ 
respondence  !  By  the  light  of  eternity  will  be  seen 
touching  scenes,  in  which  will  be  shown  our  tenderness 
and  our  devotion,  and  which  will  glorify  in  turn  justice 
and  mercy!  We  write  daily  in  heaven  the  wonderful 
diary,  and  we  will  bring  it  forth  to  the  eyes  of  all  at  the 
end  of  time. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


m 

TUI. 

MERCY. 

When  a  soul  has  left  the  ways  of  grace  to  follow  those 
of  perdition,  when  she  has  cast  off  the  beauties  of  grace, 
and  clad  herself  with  the  rags  and  hideousness  of  sin, 
when  she  has  torn  herself  from  our  arms  to  throw  herself 
into  those  of  Satan,  what  sadness,  what  pain  for  her 
friends  in  heaven  1 

But  we  do  not  abandon  her.  We  know  too  well  what 
eternal  salvation  is,  and  what  eternal  damnation.* 

Through  these  stains  we  discern  always  the  imprint  of 
the  divine  Hand, and  the  divine  likeness;  the  soul  is  ever 
to  our  eyes  the  indestructible  masterpiece,  which  in 
shadow  or  in  light  will  eternally  subsist:  we  love  it 

alwavs.  > 

%/ 

It  has  made  vain  our  ministry  ;  but  our  resources  are 
not  exhausted;  there  remains  mercy. 

Mercy  !  it  is  our  ministry  of  predilection,  that  which 
makes  us  enter  further  into  the  communications  of  the 
heart  of  God,  and  associates  us  more  intimately  with  the 
work  of  the  Redeemer. 

Our  nature,  so  perfect  and  so  beautiful,  is  in  itself 
barren.  An  angel  could  not  give  life  to  an  angel. f  But 

*  The  angels  never  rest  in  the  work  of  saving  us  ;  for  they  well  know,  for- 
sooih,  h  iw  great  a  thing  our  eternal  loss  or  salvation  is.  (St.  Bernard,  Canticle. 
Senti.  19.) 

fThe  angelic  nature  of  itself  is  unproductive,  nor  can  any  angel  beget  an- 
othet  angel;  there  is,  however,  in  angels  a  certain  power  of  fecundity  by 
means  of  spiritual  birth,  by  which  they  excite  to  a  vital  bringing  forth.  In 
the  order  of  grace,  the  angel  generates  the  spiritual  man,  while  he  breathes  into 
him  holiness.  (Vivien,  Angelus.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


the  goodness  of  God  places  in  us  a  generating  power 
which  can  exert  itself  in  a  superior  order  ;  in  the  order  of 
grace,  it  is  given  us  to  beget  man  to  spiritual  life,  in  pro¬ 
curing  for  him  the  graces  of  salvation:  this  is  our  most 
divine  enjoyment. 

There  is  no  delay.  We  invoke  upon  the  fallen  soul 
the  most  abundant  outpouring  of  grace  ;  we  prepare  the 
conversion  by  producing,  by  inspiration,  disgust  for  vice, 
regret  for  fault,  admiration  of  virtue,  the  desire  to  return, 
courage  to  burst  the  bonds,  generosity  in  accepting  duty  ; 
and  we  excite  apostolic  zeal  in  hearts,  and  we  lead  the 
charitable  pastor  to  the  search  of  the  faithless  sheep. 

What  precious  treasures,  what  graces  of  conversion 
flow  then  into  souls,  passing  through  our  hands! 

It  is  the  light  of  .divine  truth  shining  forth  all  at  once 
in  the  darkness  of.  error,  and  drawing  the  soul  by  an  irre¬ 
sistible  charm.* 

It  is  baptism  providentially  procured  for  an  infidel 
whose  good  will  and  honesty  of  heart  rendered  him  dear 
to  us. 

It  is  repentance  and  the  remission  of  their  faults,  ob¬ 
tained,  against  all  human  expectation,  for  sinners  on  the 
point  of  falling  into  their  eternity. 

It  is  terror  and  fear  inspired  in  the  hardest  criminal  at 
the  thought  of  divine  vengeance,  and  at  the  sight  of  eter- 
nal  punishment. 

It  is  remorse  devouring  a  heart  that  is  guilty,  pursu¬ 
ing  it,  constraining  it  to  go  take  refuge  in  the  arms  of  the 
cross. 


It  is  tender  reproach  murmured  to  the  ear  of  the  un- 

<  *  Meo  are  illumined  by  the  angels  not  only  in  things  lo  be  believed,  but  also 
Ln  things  to  be  done.  (St.  Thomas  1,  q.  Ill,  art.  1.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  131 

grateful  soul,  making  it  blush  for,  itself,  touching  it,  and 
forcing  from  it  a  torrent  of  tears. 

It  is  the  word  of  life  and  of  hope  brought  to  a  heart 
that  Satan  leads  into  night,  and  which  he  is  going  to  cast 
into  the  abyss,  like  Judas. 

IIow  many  guilty  ones  are  transformed  by  us  into  peni¬ 
tents,  from  criminals  into  saints,  from  persecutors  into 
apostles  ! 

The  Pauls,  the  Augustins,  the  Xaviers,  and  other  re¬ 
markable  conquests  can  be  counted;  but  innumerable  are 
the  conquests  not  less  wonderful,  known  only  to  God  and 
to  us!  Those  very  souls,  the  objects  of  our  favor,  often 
do  not  know  that  it  is  to  us  after  God  they  owe  their 
graces.* 

By  our  ministry  of  mercy,  we  direct  on  arid  soil  the 
life-giving  stream  of  the  Precious  Blood  ;  we  cause  rich 
harvest  to  spring  up  where  used  to  be  seen  only  briers 
destined  to  burn. 

By  this  ministry  we  cast,  night  and  day,  the  net  of 
gold  of  our  charity  into  the  muddy  waters  of  the  world,  to 
draw  thence  souls  who  are  dying  there,  and  place  them 
in  the  clear  and  living  waters  of  truth  and  of  virtue. 

We  have  all  a  part  in  this  ministry.  The  Heavenly 
Father,  like  the  Patriarch  Jacob,  sends  his  children  to 
his  children,  to  see  that  all  goe3  well  with  those  who  are 
far  from  the  paternal  roof.  To  whatever  Angel  you  may 
address  yourself  in  the  universe  to  ask  whither  he  is 
going  and  what  he  is  doing,  you  will  receive  the  answer 
of  Joseph:  “I  am  looking  for  my  brethren.”! 

*Not  eveiy  one  enlightened  by  an  angel  knows  the  light  comes  from  an 
angel.  (  bid.) 

f  Genesis,  c.  37,  v.  14, 15, 16. 


132 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


But  how  many  times,  with  truer  grief  than  that  of  the 
son  of  the  patriarch,  the  Angels  bring  back  to  the  com¬ 
mon  father  Llie  bloody  tunic  of  him  who  was  the  dearest 
of  his  children,  and  say  to  him:  “A  wild  beast  has  de¬ 
voured  him.”* 

Pure  doves,  we  dart  from  the  brilliant  ark  to  fly, 
above  the  corruptions  of  the  world,  in  search  of  the  ver¬ 
dant  branch  of  peace.  Peace  of  souls  with  God,  their 
reconciliation  with  Him,  their  conversion:  this  is  the 
dearest  object  of  our  desires. 

Ministry  of  mercy!  ministry  wholly  divine!  which 
occasions  in  our  hearts  the  joys  of  the  fatherly  heart  of 
God,  and  renders  us  the  organs  of  the  infinite  charity  of 
the  Redeemer!! 

Ministry  of  mercy!  we  should  not  know  how  to  exer¬ 
cise  it  in  heaven.  In  heaven  there  is  no  misery  to  com- 
fort.t  But  on  earth  the  field  is  vast,  the  harvest  abun 
dant.  For  us  as  for  Christ,  the  earth  is  the  place  of 
mercy. 

- 7 - — - • 

*  Genesis,  c.  37,  v.  33. 

f  Wliose  so  great  mercy  towards  us  they,  as  is  fitting,  imitate.  (St.  Bern.,  on 
St.  Michael.) 

Î  There  no  misery  is  upon  which  mercy  may  be  exercised.  (St.  Aug.,  on  Ps., 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


133 


i 


IX. 

JUSTICE. 

To  turn  from  evil  our  unfortunate  brothers,  sweet  in¬ 
vitations,  pressing  solicitations,  threats  even  do  not  al- 
wavs  suffice.  IIow  often  have  we  to  mingle  rigor  with 

•f  O  O 

goodness!  What  painful  blows  are  heard! 

We  are  in  turn  ministers  of  divine  mercy,  and  execu¬ 
tioners  of  divine  justice.  As  we  represent  God  in  His 
providence  over  men,  we  follow  the  impulse  He  gives  us, 
and  never  lose  sight  of  His  sovereign  holiness,  nor  of 
His  measureless  love.  , 

As  all  graces  so  all  scourges  are  in  our  hands.  Fam¬ 
ine,  pestilence,  cholera,  War,  inundations,  conflagrations, 
earthcpiakes,  droughts,  sterility,  only  await  our  orders. 
We  hold  them  in  suspense  till  the  moment  marked  by 
God.  ' 

The  exterminating  Angel,  armed  with  the  ten  plagues 
of  Egypt  and  a  thousand  others,  takes  his  flight  to  the 
earth.  He  goes  through,  visits  each  region,  and  makes 
the  weight  of  his  arm  felt  by  guilty  nations. 

When  crime  is  multiplied,  and  corruption  becomes  gen¬ 
eral,  the  A'ngel  accelerates  his  speed.  Like  a  torch  turned 
rapidly,  he  appears  at  one  and  the  same  time  to  be  pres¬ 
ent  at  every  point  of  his  fearful  orbit. 

In  such  a  moment  the  very  elements  created  by  good¬ 
ness  are  changed  into  elements  of  vengeance. 

This  water,  that  contains  fertility,  freshness,  joy  ;  this 


134 


/ 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SEE  A  PH. 


water,  principle  of  life,  becomes  all  at  once  an  instru¬ 
ment  of  death,  and  swallows  up  in  its  flood  powerless 
man.  Who  can  tell  the  number  of  those  who  will  rise 

V  *'*  y 

from  the  depths  of  the  sea  on  the  day  of  the  great  call  ? 

This  fire,  one  of  the  most  beautiful  gifts  man  has 
received  from  God,  and  of  which  he  alone  knows  how  to 
make  use  of  on  earth  ;  this  fire,  which  increases  his 
power  an  hundred-fold,  and  opens  the  way  to  every  indus¬ 
try  ;  this  fire,  which  has  its  abode  at  his  hearth,  warms 
his  members,  soothes  pain,  keeps  away  death  ;  this  fire 
revolts  in  its  turn  against  the  ungrateful  man,  devouring 
him  with  all  his  goods. 

This  air,  in  which  man  is  plunged  and  whence  he 
draws  the  first  element  of  his  life;  this  air,  complacent 
messenger  of  light,  of  heat,  of  sound;  should  it  once 
become  infected  with  blasphemy,  forthwith  it  is  seen 
filled  with  hurtful  principles,  changing  into  a  murderous 
mist,  and  pouring  into  the  bosom  of  the  wicked  suffering 
and  death. 

Man,  who  should  find  in  man  an  amiable  companion,  a 
sympathetic  support,  a  friend  at  all  hours  and  in  all  trials, 
soon  sees  in  man  only  an  enemy,  a  persecutor,  a  traitor, 
turning  against  the  heart  of  his  brother  the  homicidal 

o  o 

steel.  War  is  one  of  the  principal  forms  of  divine  ven¬ 
geance  in  time. 

Thus  is  perpetuated  that  law  of  justice  inaugurated 
the  very  day  of  the  expulsion  from  paradise.  When 
man  revolts  against  God,  everything  by  our  order  rises 
up  against  man  to  strike  and  punish  him. 

Once  it  will  please  the  Lord,  a  moment  of  the  night 
will  suffice  to  exterminate  the  first-born  of  a  perverse 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SEE  APE. 


185 


nation,  immolate  the  victorious  armies  of  a  powerful  king, 
spread  death  and  mourning  over  immense  regions.* 

The  blows  we  strike  in  the  name  of  divine  justice  suc¬ 
ceed  each  other  without  interruption.  The  striking  chas¬ 
tisements  of  nations  are  frequent;  but  jet  more  so  are 
the  secret  chastisements  of  individuals.  Every  moment 
the  sword  is  drawn,  returned  to  the  scabbardyand  drawn 
again. 

Like  God  Himself,  we  punish  without  anger.  If  the 
Holy  Scriptures  attribute  to  us,  as  to  Him,  vengeance, 
man  must  understand  by  this  word  the  effects  of  our  acts, 
and  not  the  perturbation  of  passion. f 

In  exercising  justice  we  proceed  with  entire  equity. 
We  can  discern  the  just  who  are  found  mixed  up  with 
the  guiltv,  and  we  have  for  them  the  consideration  due 
to  innocence. 

Should  we  burst  the  barriers  that  keep  chained  up  the 
waters  in  the  clouds,  should  we  drown  the  world  in  an 
universal  deluge,  we  gather  in  the  ark  Noah  and  his 
family,  in  reward  for  docility  and  virtue. 

If  we  make  fire  from  heaven  descend  upon  the  crimi¬ 
nal  cities  of  the  Pentapolis,  we  save  from  the  burning  Lot 
and  his,  whom  corruption  could  not  reach. 

If  we  lead  death  through  guilty  Egypt,  and  if,  in  the 
shadow  of  night  we  immolate  the  first-born  of  the  op¬ 
pressing  .  people,  we  pass,  without  stopping,  before  the 
doors  marked  with  the  blood  of  the  Lamb,  we  spare  the 
c  1 1 i  1  Iren  of  the  people  oppressed. 

*To  destr  y  1 1  is  adversaries  He  sends  an  army,  because,  forsooth,  the  Lord 
works  vengeance  by  His  angels.  (St.  Gregory,  Ho  ».) 

f  As  anger  is  sometimes  atti  United  to  God  on  account  of  similarity  of  eff  ct. 
.  .  .  Universally  nothing  of  this  kind  is  said  of  angels,  in  the  sense  of  passion. 
(St.  Thomas  1,  q,  59,  art.  4.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


136 

Often,  it  is  true,  in  the  midst  of  chastisements  visited 
on  the  earth,  the  just  are  stricken  with  the  guilty;  hut 
their  lot  is  very  different.  Toward  the  one  all  is  rigor; 
for  the  other  all  becomes  mercy. 

In  beating  with  his  flail  the  straw  and  the  wheat,  does 
the  harvester  confound  them  ?  does  he  treat  one  and  the 
other  in  the  same  way?  The  winnowed  grain  will  be 
carried  into  the  granary  of  the  father  of  the  family, 
to  be  his  riches  ;  the  straw,  left  to  itself,  will  be  cast  out 
and  burned. 

>  i 

In  that  city  ravaged  by  epidemic,  see  that  phalanx  of 
heroic  souls  ;  they  fall  in  the  service  of  their  brothers  ; 
to  the  eyes  of  men  they  succumb,  but  to  be  immediately 
received  in  our  arms,  and  to  accept  the  palm  due  to  their 
devotion.  The  world  needed  the  spectacle  of  their  vir¬ 
tue,  and  God  wished  that  proof  of  love  they  have  just 
given. 

The  passing  sufferings  of  time  are  for  the  just  trials, 
which  make  their  fidelity  shine  forth,  finish  their  purifi¬ 
cation,  and  augment  the  treasure  of  their  merit-  The 
day  they  seem  to  succumb  is  the  day  of  their  triumph. 
It  is  the  spectacle  constantly  offered  to  souls  who  know 
how  to  view  the  events  of  time  from  the  heights  of  eter¬ 
nity.* 

Consider  time  separated  from  eternity  ;  all  is  mystery. 
Join  eternity  to  time,  and  everything  is  clear.  Faith  is, 
as  it  were,  a  reflex  of  the  superior  light  of  the  elect.  Man 

*  There  remains  a  difference  of  what  is  suffered  even  when  there  is  similarity 
of  snt'ering.  One  and  the  same  punishment  tries  the  good,  purifies  them,  and 
casts  off  the  dross,  while  it  gives  over  to  woe,  destroys,  and  exterminates  the 
had.  We  are  to  consider  not  what,  hut  how  each  one  suffers.  (St.  Aug.,  Ci, y  of 
God,  1.  1,  c.  e.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  137 

sees  in  it  the  reason  and  the  explanation  of  the  divine 
permissions. 

A  soul  complains  to  God  of  the  tribulations  and  perse¬ 
cution  to  which  the  just  are  subjected  in  this  world,  and 
dares  ask  of  God  to  suppress  them. 

Cease,  my  sister,  cease!  Thou  askest  of  God  to  de¬ 
spoil  His  church  of  her  most  precious  jewels,  of  her 
purest  glory,  of  her  most  heavenly  character;  thou  de- 
mandest  of  Him  to  deprive  heaven  of  its  triumphs,  of  its 
joys,  of  its  palms,  of  its  aureola,  of  its  confessors,  of  its 
martyrs.* 


*  The  .  a  rad  be  uf  (iud  abounds  in  witnesses.  (St.  Cyprian,  of  the  Praises  oj 


138 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH, 


X. 

GOODNESS. 

Goodness  is  in  our  nature  as  in  that  of  God.  We  are 

9 

pleased  to  shew  it.  Man  only  renders  severity  necessary. 

The  history  of  the  human  race  is  strewn  over  with 
miraculous  facts  in  which  our  intervention  in  favor  of 
the  elect  appears  in  a  most  remarkable  manner. 

From  the  time  God  willed  to  m;rk  l lis  love  and  our 
protection,  we  have  commanded;  at  our  voice  the  elements 
hi  came  transformed  and  seemed  to  change  their  nature. 

The  flames  of  the  furnace  lost  their  fire,  and  became 
refreshing  dew  :  they  soothed  and  preserved  the  members 
they  should  have  consumed.* 

The  deep  waters  ceased  to  be  mobile  and  fluid:  they 
became  as  if  s  lid  to  offer  on  their  surface  or  in  their 
midst  a  sure  way.f 

The  air  trembled  with  joy  under  our  wings,  when  it 
saw  us  bear  through  its  high  cui  rents  and  to  great  dis- 
tances  those  whom  Go  t  sent.J 

Chains  and  irons  that  weighed  down  the  arms  of  con¬ 
fessors  have  flown  to  pieces,  and  before  the  captive  dun- 
g  on  and  prisons  hav  opened.  || 

*  Danie',  c.  3,  v.  41),  50.  Lives  of  St.  Tatiana,  St.  Christina ,  St.  Erasmus. 

f  Exuiius,  e.  14,  v.  22;  Josue,  c.  3,  v.  13.  Lives  of  Sts.  Benedict,  Ma  unis,  and 
Fit  anus. 

t  Daniel,  c.  14,  v.  35. 

||  Acts,  c.  5,  v.  19,  20.  Lives  of  Sts.  Politus,  Thyrsus,  and  Julian  of  Mans.  Bol- 
landists. 


MEMOIRS  01  A  SERAPH. 


139 


Wild  beasts  have  forgotten  their  instincts  of  blood,  and 
lions, -tigers,  leopards,  have  shown  the  mildness  of  lambs, 
and  caressed.* * * § 

Weakness  and  sickness  have  left  those  tortured  by 
them,  and  great  wounds  have  been  suddenly  healed. f 
Dangers  the  more  to  be  feared  because  unknown,  am¬ 
bush,  plots,  murderous  designs,  have  been  revealed  and 
prevented. f 

In  the  midst  of  the  suffering  of  thirst  and  the  pangs  of 
hunger,  the  water  burst  forth  in  the  desert,  manna  fell 
from  heaven,  bread  came  in  abundance,  wine  and  oil 
multiplied,  granaries  were  found  filled. || 

We  have  revived  the  courage  of  God’s  athletes  and 


rendered  them  vanquishers  oh  torments,  in  presenting 
them,  with  our  hands,  the  palm  and  the  crown. § 

We  have  announced  to  the  just  their  departure  from 
this  world;  we  have  softened  the  rigor  of  their  passage 
in  delighting  their  eyes  with  brilliant  visions,  their  ears 
with  harmonious  music,  their  spirit  and  heart  with  sub¬ 
lime  assurance.^ 

We  have  made  the  survivors  understand  the  reception 
we  reserve  to  the  just,  where  their  best  friends  of  earth 


*  Daniel,  c.  C,  v.  22.  Lives  of  Sts.  Faustina,  Jovita,  Tyrannion,  Venantius,  Tau- 
taleon,  Sennen,  Mam  mes,  Eusfachivs,  C/rry  an/hus,  Emilianus;  of  Sts.  Marciano, 
Prisca,  Bland ina,  Columba,  Theda,  Daria.  Bollaudists. 

f  Lives  of  Sts.  Carterius,  Chromacus,  Benignus,  Macro ,  and  John  of  Mathera. 
Bollaiulists. 

I  Those  in  danger  receive  help,  not  knowing  it.  (St.  Maximus  of  Turin. 
Lives  of  St.  never  us,  Oringa,  and  Philip  iWri.  Bollandists.) 

|l  Gen.,  c.  21,  v.  17,  18,  19.  Lives  of  Sts.  Ponlianus,  NcOphytus,  Alexandra ,  and 
Veronica  of  Milan.  Bollaudists. 

§  Lives  of  Sts.  Juliana,  Martina ,  Ephysius,  and  Julian  of  Antioch.  Bollandists. 

Lives  of  Sts.  Lau-rence  Justinian,  Lvanus,  lient  y  of  England,  Anthony,  Spen- 
sippus,  Genulphus,  Anastasias,  Jastina .  Bollandists. 


140 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


end  their  career  and  where  the  unknown  region  of  eter¬ 
nity  begins.* 

We  not  only  give  a  benevolent  welcome  to  these  friends, 
but  we  bring  them  the  most  efficacious  proofs  of  our  love. 

If  they  are  entirely  purified,  if  no  penalty  remains  to 
be  undergone,  we  receive  them  on  our  wings,  we  bear 
them  in  triumph,  we  make  them  an  ovation  such  as  is  un¬ 
known  on  earth. f 

If  there  remain  something  to  be  expiated,  we  conduct 
them  to  purgatory,  and  we  visit  them  frequently  to  con¬ 
sole  them.J 

When  their  penance  is  finished,  we  give  them  our 
hand,  and  withdraw  them  from  the  flames,  guiding  them 
to  the  glory  of  heaven. 

We  honor  on  earth  the  mortal  spoils  of  the  saints,  pre¬ 
serving  them  from  corruption,  causing  them  to  exhale 
sweet  odors,  surrounding  them  with  brilliant  light,  ele¬ 
vating  mausoleums  to  them,  redeeming  them  from  ob¬ 
livion,  inviting  people  to  come  venerate  them,  procuring 
for  them  striking  triumphs. || 

We  are  prodigal  in  ineffable  caresses  to  infancy  loved 
of  God,  and  predestined  to  great  virtue  as  to  great  works. 
We  surround  it  with  care  full  of  solicitude  and  of  affec¬ 
tion.  § 

*  Lives  of  Sts.  Paul  th“.  Hermit ,  Maximus ,  Maurontius ,  Ceadda,  Palemon,  Orniga, 
David  and  Eulhymius.  Bollandists. 

fSt.  Luke,  c.  16,  v.  22.  One  angel  was  not  sufficient  to  carry  the  poor  man; 
but  several  came  to  form  a  joyful  choir;  each  one  of  the  angels  rejoices  to  be 
ab'e  even  to  touch  the  burden.  They  are  willingly  bearers  of  such  burdens,  to 
lead  souls  to  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  (St.  John  Chrv  s.,  on  Lazarus.) 

|  If  they  stand  in  need  of  some  purification,  the  holy  angels  take  them  to  the 
place  of  purgatory,  and  there  visit  and  console  them,  (■hiarez,  1.  6,  c.  19,  n.  9.) 

||  Lives  of  S's.  Maurus ,  M  laniu<,  lligobert,  Simon  Stylites,  Hilary,  Quialin,  and 
Vincent  of  Saragossa.  Bollandists. 

g  Lives  of  S's.  Cronarius,  Congal,  Gudila,  Genevieve,  and  of  Gregory  Thaumatur- 
gtis.  Bollandists. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


141 


We  show  virginal  souls  a  sweet  and  fraternal  famili¬ 
arity,,  and  we  multiply  prodigies  to  defend  them,  threat¬ 
ening,  blinding,  overthrowing,  even  striking  with  death 
their  aggressors.* 

Not  content  with  sustaining  and  protecting  the  just, 
we  have  often,  out  of  consideration  for  them,  spared  and 
saved  the  guilty. 

Did  we  not,  in  the  Lord’s  name,  promise  Abraham 
that  we  would  pardon  Sodom,  if  ten  just  men  were  found 
therein.f 

Did  we  not  turn  away  the  scourge  from  the  city  of 
Segor,  because  Lot  had  taken  refuge  there.! 

lias  not  the  great  apostle  St.  Paul  told  what  we  did 
one  day  in  his  favor?  of  the  numerous  passengers  saved 
from  shipwreck  because  he  found  himself  in  the  same 
vessel  with  them.  II 

11  i  \ 

When  scandals  multiply,  so  that  the  weak  murmur,  and 
the  man  of  zeal  is  at  the  end  of  his  patience,  who  then 
keeps  back  the  avenging  fire?  who  chains  the  lightning? 
who  suspends  the  blow  of  justice? 

“Consider,  0  Lord,”  cry  the  Angels,  “how  many  in¬ 
nocent  children,  how  many  pure  hearts,  how  many  fer¬ 
vent  souls  are  still  remaining!  See  the  penance,  the 
prayer,  the  generosity,  the  devotion,  the  holy  dee(îs  that 
glorify  Thee!  Pardon,  0  Lord!  pardon  these  criminals 
for  the  sake  of  the  just,  and  may  Thy  friends  obtain 
favor  for  Thy  enemies.” 

*  Lives  of  Sis.  Jaetta,  Ida,  Colette,  Raymond  of  Pennafort,  and  of  St.  Rose  of 
Lima. 

t  Gen.,  c.  18,  v.  32. 

JGen.,c.  19,  v.  21. 

|j  Acts,  c.  27,  v.  25,  26. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


142 


XI. 

THE  PENITENTS. 

When  the  guilty  soul  has  given  ear  to  our  voice,  has 
allowed  herself  to  be  touched  by  grace,  has  been  purified 
by  penance,  has  entered  into  the  friendship  of  God,  a 
new  ministry  is  to  be  fulfilled. 

It  is  our  part  to  announce  to  the  paternal  home  the 
longed-for  return  of  the  dear  prodigal  ;  ours  to  give  the 
signal  for  the  joy  which  all  the  elder  brothers  of  the 
family  are  to  share. 

If  a  greater,  more  lively  joy  bursts  forth  from  our 
hearts  for  the  return  of  one  sinner,  than  for  the  perse¬ 
verance  of  ninety  nine  just,  who  can  be  astonished  at  it? 

Ask  the  Creator  what  He  has  given  us  of  tenderness 
for  men,  and  you  will  understand  the  value  we  attach  to 
to  securing  among  men  one  more  friend  for  eternity. 

Numberless  will  be  the  souls  in  heaven,  who  after  hav¬ 
ing  lost  their  first  innocence,  came  to  wash  their  stained 
garments  in  the  Blood  of  the  Lamb. 

lIo)v  beautiful  are  the  tears  of  repentance!  IIow 
touching  those  sighs  of  regret  and  of  love  !  What  grace 
and  charm  there,  where  such  debasing  stains  had  accumu¬ 
lated!  0  glory  !  0  power  of  repentance!* 

These  souls  are. the  conquest  of  the  Redeemer  and  ours 
also:  they  are  the  masterpiece  of  the  divine  mercy .f 

*  Tears  make  or  find  par.idtse.  (Pierre  de  Celles,  Des  Pains,  1.  12.) 
fThe  angels  too  rejoice  at  tlie  repentance  of  the  sinner,  because  sin  is  de¬ 
stroyed,  justice  is  restored,  the  pride  of  the  devils  is  humbled,  the  guardianship 
of  the  angels  is  made  efficacious,  nparation  is  made  to  the  church,  the  wrath  of 
God.  is  appeased,  and  the  Jerusalem  which  is  above  is  beautified.  (St.  Bonav.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


143 


Christ,  put  to  death  in  the  heart,  lives  again.  At  this 
new  birth  the  Angels  of  heaven  come  together,  rejoice, 
resume  the  canticle  heard  at  Bethlehem.  This  second 
nativity  is  solemnly  celebrated  like  the  first,  because  like 
the  first  it  gives  glory  to  God,  and  brings  to  the  heart 
peace  which  a  bad  will  had  banished.* 

Do  you  wish  to  have  a  better  judgment  of  the  happi¬ 
ness  of  these  souls,  and  of  the  joy  their  return  causes? 
Li  sten  to  Satan  breathing  out  his  fury  : 

“They  were  in  my  power;  I  reigned  over  them;  I 
marked  them  with  my  seal ,  I  made  them  my  slaves,  my 
property.  How  I  was  contented  then! 

“And  see,  ravished  from  my  hatred,  they  are  going 
to  take  the  place  from  which  I  was  excluded.  They  de¬ 
spise  me,  avoid  me,  leave  me  humbled,  crushed!  Heaven 
goes  on  peopling  itself  with  those  who  have  escaped  my 
power. 

“  1  sinned  once,  and  these  souls  have  sinned  a  thou¬ 
sand  times.  I  have  only  committed  one  fault,  and  there 
is  no  crime  these  souls  have  not  committed.  And  there 
they  are  nevertheless  received,  pardoned,  saved;  whilst 
I—! 

“But  no!  my  heart  is  too  full  of  hate.  Never  will 
Satan  regret  having  been  obstinate.  My  regret,  my 
punishment,  will  be  to  see  these  souls  so  sweetly  treated; 
to  see  heaven  enriched  by  my  losses;  to  See  mercy  vio- 
Liting  the  rights  of  justice.  After  the  first  fault,  damna- 

*(  Inist  i.s  then  born,  who  before  was  cruelly  put  to  death,  an  l  at  the  new 
birth  of  t lie  i  o  d  the  heavenly  hosts  rej  ice  and  sing:  that  nativity  becomes  a 
sohmiiitv  for  the  angels,  and  that  canticle  is  repeated  which  the  shepherds 
ovei  heard  :  lor  the  coming  of  tte  Saviour  gives  back  glory  to  God,  and  to  man 
the  peace  a  bad  wLl  had  disturbed.  (Vis  ieii,  Angtlus.) 


144 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


tion:  be  it  so!  but  if  it  is  thus  for  an  Angel,  should  it 
not  be  so  for  man  ?  * 

“That  Divine  Blood,  which  has  flowed  for  souls  and 
not  for  us,  which  has  been  their  ransom  and  not  ours,  I 
have  had  in  my  power.  When  these  souls  were  under 
our  sway,  all  in  them  belonged  to  me.  What  other  ven¬ 
geance  I  could  have  taken  then  !  what  other  profanation 
I  could  have  accomplished  !  Why  did  I  not  take  more 
precaution  against  the  activity  of  the  Angels,  who  foil 
my  attempts  and  overthrow  my  projects! 

“But  what!  what  do  I  hear?  What  are  those  hymns, 
at  one  time  suppliant,  at  another  triumphant,  always  full 
of  feeling,  again  sung  by  the  spotless  spouse  of  Christ? 
Are  they  not  the  sighs  and  the  words  of  an  illustrious 
sinner?  And  those  pictures  I  see  shining  over  the  al¬ 
tars,  and  the  names  I  hear  chanted,  celebrated,  invoked 
by  people,  are  they  not  most  often  the  pictures,  the 
names  of  those  who  were  remarkable  sinners? 

“  Sinners  in  heaven,  in  glory,  in  eternal  beatitude,  there 
is  thy  work,  0  mercy!  But  what  I  have  forced  myself 
to  do,  in  creating  the  pagan  heaven,  in  peopling  it  with 
unclean  divinities,  is  it  not  what  Thou  dost  Thyself  every 
day  !  By  bringing  together  so  many  sinners,  dost  Thou 
not  fear  to  soil  the  sojourn  of  infinite  holiness?  Will 
not  thy  heaven  end  by  being  a  bog  ? 

“Vain  words!  I  uselessly  lie  to  myself:  I  see  souls 
escape  me,  purify  themselves,  save  themselves.  Mercy, 
Thou  art  my  most  cruel  foe  ;  Thy  look  cast  upon  a  soul 
is  a  sword  that  pierces  my  heart.  Justice  is  terrible  for 
Satan;  but  mercy  is  more  terrible  still.” 

*0  injustice  of  lot  not  to  be  borne  !  For  a  most  brief  act  of  disobedience  Ï 
was  cast  from  heaven.  Thou  dost  lead  into  the  kingdom  of  heaven  the  vilest 
heads,  borne  down  with  heaps  of  crimes.  {Life  of  St.  Eudoxia.  Bollandists.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


145 


XII.  . 

THE  REPROBATE. 

Did  sadness  and  pain  have  access  to  the  bosom  of  hap¬ 
piness,  what  bitter  tears  should  we  not  shed  at  the  loss 
of  a  soul  !* 

As  long  as  that  soul  was  in  trial  and  on  the  journey 
we  loved  it  in  spite  of  its  crimes  ;  we  addressed  it  salutary 
invitations  ;  we  awaited  from  it  some  emotion  of  fear,  of 
regret,  of  confidence;  we  persisted  in  not  despairing. 

The  last  sigh  given,  the  catastrophe  consummated, 
what  a  sudden  and  cruel  change!  Behold  for  ever  lost 
the  treasure  of  divine  grace!  Behold  the  offering  of 
Christ  and  of  the  chalice  of  Ilis  Blood  rendered  useless! 
Behold  given  over  to  the  demon  this  soul  created  by  God, 
ransomed  by  the  Redeemer,  sanctified  by  the  Iloly 
Ghost,  a  thousand  times  marked  with  the  sign  of  the 
adorable  Trinity. 

After  having  been  so  long  its  protectors  and  defenders, 
we  see  all  at  once  our  ministry  paralyzed  by  its  ob¬ 
stinacy.  We  shall  be  but  its  accusers;  we  shall  recall  to 

it  the  divine  gifts  and  our  own  but  to  reproach  it- for  its 

» 

ingratitude. 

At  its  entry  into  eternity,  at  its  appearance  before  the 
tribunal  of  the  Most  High,  at  its  condemnation,  at  its 
descent  to  the  place  of  punishment,  Satan  triumphs.  He 

*  Isaias,  c.  33,  v.  7.  hey  wept  as  they  gave  over  the  soul  to  the  demons.  (St. 
Autoniaus,  Summa  TheoL,  3d.  p.) 


146 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


is  agitated  with  exultation,  and  sings  anew  his  victory 
over  the  Redeemer. 

Pointing  to  the  people  of  perdition  around  him,  he  ex¬ 
claims  in  accents  of  satisfied  hate  and  vengeance: 

u See  my  chosen  ones! — mine!  1  did  not  receive  for 
them  buffets,  nor  undergo  scourging,  nor  carry  the  cross, 
nor  shed  rivers  of  blood,  nor  suffer  pain,  nor  accept 
death.  I  did  not  display  to  their  eyes  immortality,  nor 
paradise,  nor  the  promise  of  a  heavenly  kingdom.* 

“And  yet  is  there  a  sacrifice  they  have  not  made  for 
me?  They  consecrated  to  me  their  intellect,  their  en- 
ergy,  their  health,  their  fortune,  their  hopes,  their 
eternity,  their  salvation;  air  they  had  that  was  most 
precious. f 

“  Let  them  come  now  share  my  inheritance  ;  I  am  ready 
to  have  in  common  with  them  the  lot  that  lias  fallen  to 
me  :  I  will  be  avaricious  neither  of  this  malediction,  nor 
of  these  pains,  nor  of  this  despair,  nor  of  all  this  mis¬ 
fortune  in  which  I  am  so  rich!  Let  us  go!  let  them 
come,  for  among  friends  all  is  in  common.” 

To  this  do  ail  the  temptation  and  deceit  of  Satan  lead. 
That  is  the  crowning  work  of  his  perseverance  and  efforts. 

Justice,  the  ministers  of  which  we  are,  and  the  execu¬ 
tors,  is  limited  by  time.  We  love  this  justice  because  it 
is  accompanied  by  mercy,  and  is  exercised  only  for  pur¬ 
poses  of  mercy.  -  ** 

Eternal  justice  has  for  us  another  aspect.  We  adore 
it,  we  extol  it;  but  the  sight  of  it  affrights  us,  and  we 
bless  God  not  to  have  to  exercise  it. 

It  belongs  to  the  demons  to  be  the  instruments  of  eter- 


*St  r yj  rian,  en  dorks  and  Alins  Deeds. 

f  Ibid.  [These  two  are  translated  in  the  text.] 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


147 


nal  justice.  It  is  theirs  to  torture  souls,  to  torture  each 
other  mutually,  and  to  become  in  this  guise  the  executors 
of  the  divine  decrees.* 

As  for  ourselves,  when  we  see  a  soul  rebellious  to 
grace,  obstinate  in  evil,  fall  into  eternal  reprobation,  we 
give  assent  to  the  judgment  of  God,  we  proclaim  its 
equity  ;  but  we  have  for  this  soul  neither  torture  norout- 
rage. 

We  leave  to  the  evil  spirits  their  applause,  their  scoff¬ 
ing  laughter,  their  bursts  of  sinister  joy. f 

We  return  to  the  souls  still  on  the  way,  and  we  re¬ 
double  our  tenderness,  zeal,  care,  to  preserve  them  from 
eternal  misfortune  and  save  them. 

*  The  dev  Is  are  the  executors  of  divine  justice  on  the  wicked.  On  this  ac¬ 
count  the  pain  of  the  evil  spirits  is  not  lessened,  for  they  themselves  are  tor¬ 
tured  l>y  the  very  fact,  that  they  torture  others.  For  there  the  society  of  the 
miserable  will  not  diminish  but  increase  misery.  (St.  Thomas,  Supplement,  q. 
89,  art.  4.) 

f  The  demons  boisterously  laughing  and  rejoicing  exceedingly.  (Bede,  Hint., 
1.  5,  c.  13.) 


148 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


/ 


/ 


XIII. 

THE  ANGELS  OF  NATIONS. 

The  Angels  all  interest  themselves  in  the  human  fam¬ 
ily;  but  each  nation  has  angels  placed  over  it,  charged 
to  conduct  it.  to  its  end.* 

At  the  time  of  the  dispersion  of  men  upon  earth,  each 
Angel  led  into  a  separate  country  the  people  he  was  to 
direct. 

The  Angels  entrusted  with  this  higher  ministry  are 
taken  from  among  those  of  a  more  elevated  dignity  ; 
they  are  of  the  Choir  of  Principalities. f 

To  accomplish  their  work,  the  Angels  have  received 
an  abundant  share  of  the  divine  authority.  They  adore 
that  authority  ;  they  are  transported  with  love,  seeing  it 
exercised  over  themselves;  they  proclaim  its  sovereign, 
principle,  and  seek  to  make  it  known  of  men,  and  to  lead 
them  to  love  it. 

They  extend  their  vigilance  over  the  government  of 
cities,  provinces,  kingdoms.  They  direct  princes  and 
sovereigns,  inspiring  them  with  thoughts  of  peace,  dic¬ 
tating  counsels  of  wisdom,  when  their  faults  or  those  of 
their  subjects  do  not  render  them  unworthy  of  it. 

*The  prefectures  of  the  angels  are  divided  by  peoples  and  cities.  .  .  .  By  di¬ 
vine  and  early  disposition  the  angels  are  distributed  among  the  nations.  (Clem¬ 
ent  of  Alexandria,  Strom.,  1.  7.)  Kingdoms  and  peoples  are  placed  under  the 
guardianship  of  angels.  (St.  Epiphanius,  Hares.,  51  ;  Suaiez,  1.  6,  v.  17,  n.  22.) 

f  Another  is  universal  guardianship  ;  and  ihisis  niuhiplièd  indivers  wax  s  ;  for 
the  more  universal  an  agent  is  the  more  superior  is  he.  Thus,  then,  the  guard¬ 
ianship  of  the  human  race  belongs  to  the  order  of  Principalities,  or  perhaps  the 
Archangels,  who  are  called  princes  of  angels.  (St.  Thomas,  q.  113,  art.  3.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH . 


149 

They  keep  off  from  nations  pestilence,  famine,  sterility, 
mortality,  all  great  scourges. 

.  They  obtain  for  them  the  benefit  of  faith,  and  procure 
for  them  evangelical  workers.  Like  the  Angel  of  Mace¬ 
donia  addressing  St.  Paul,  they  invite  the  Apostles  to 
cross  the  straits,  to  pass  the  ocean  and  seas,  to  fly  to  the 
ail  of  peoples  in  distress.* 

Happy  the  states  ruled  under  the  direction  of  Angels! 
They  prosper  and  attain  the  end  for  which  they  were 
formed.  Material  order  favors  spiritual  prosperity. 
Peoples  and  their  leaders  enjoy  in  peace  the  fruits  of 
order,  and  honor  God  by  their  virtues. 

But  what  instability,  what  revolution,  where  heavenly 
influences  are  not  accepted!  It  seems  that  to  chastise 
guilty  nations,  the  angels  of  the  abyss  come  to  take  the 
place  of  the  good  Angels,  and  that  in  place  of  present¬ 
ing  a  picture  of  heaven,  earth  becomes  a  representation 
of  hell. 

When  the  Angels  are  heeded,  there  exist  wise  and  just 
laws,  which  preserve,  inspire,  and  maintain  order.  When 
a  deaf  ear  is  turned  to  their  counsels,  there  is  nothing 
but  tyranny,  arbitrary  action,  injustice,  perpetual  insur¬ 
rection,  and  perpetual  revolution. 

In  human  society  order  reigns  only  by  subordination 
and  obedience  ;  but  obedience  and  subordination  call  for 
authority  of  a  sacred  character,  which  can  come  only 
from  God,  and  can  only  be  an  emanation  from  divine  au- 

In  all  times  the  Angels  were  the  representatives  with 

*.Acts,  c.  16,  v.  9.  Tbi.>  angel  appears  to  have  been  the  tutelar  angel  of  Mace¬ 
donia.  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  on  this  pla<  e  )  By  a  like  vision,  St.  Francis  Xavier  knew 
he  wij  called  to  India.  (Horatius  Turselliuus,  in  the  Life  of  St.  1'.  Xavier ,  1.  1, 
c.  a) 


150 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


men  of  the  law  of  God  ;  and  in  all  times  their  influence 
was  the  measure  of  the  spiritual  and  material  prosperity 
of  nations. 

Woe  to  those  societies  which  reject  God’s  authority, 
and  wish  to  rule  themselves  without  Ilim!  They  will 
soon  be  convinced  of  their  impotence,  and  the  end  is 
catastrophe. 

The  Angels  of  nations  fly  from  all  points  of  the  earth, 
and  come  to  meet  at  the  foot  of  the  throne  of  the  Eter¬ 
nal.  Why  is  it  not  given  to  the  ear  of  man  to  hear  them 
give  an  account  of  their  missions? 

Hear  the  Angel  of  France,  at  the  day  of  great  trial: 

“Have  I  not  procured  for  my  cherished  nation  all  man¬ 
ner  of  prosperity  and  glory?  Has  it  not  received  from 
me  the  palm  ot  valor,  of  wisdom,  of  eloquence,  of  letters, 
of  arts?  Have  I  not  secured  for  it  the  honor  of  great 
undertakings  and  the  merit  of  holy  works?  Have  1  not 
furnished  its  history  with  what  is  enough  to  render  illus¬ 
trious  twenty  nations? 

“From  its  baptism,  I  made  it  the  eldest  daughter  of 
the  Church,  the  soldier  of  God,  the  missioner  of  the 
Gospel,  the  knight  of  noble  causes,  the  mother  of  great 
men,  the  arbiter  of  peoples.  All  that  has  made  it  pros¬ 
perous  and  glorious  has  come  from  me. 

“And  see!  all  at  once  the  most  Christian  nation,  the 
wise  nation,  liberal  by  excellence,  frankness  personified, 
generosity  itself,  has  been  seized  with  vertigo,  gives  itself 
up  to  folly,  vomits  blasphemy,  advertises  atheism,  takes 
pleasure  in  falsehood,  abandons  itself  to  assemblies  of 
darkness,  obeys  criminal  counsels,  cynically  crushes  the 
weak,  dreams  of  nothing  but  of  putting  an  obstacle  in 
the  way  of  souls  to  do  good! 


MEMOIRS  '  OF  A  ' SERAPH.  151 

“0  France!  what  art  thou  doing?  0  France!  what 
hast  thou  become?  ' 

‘•How  into  vilest  lead  the  purest  gold  is  changed! 

“But  no  !  my  God,  no,-  the  monstrosities  committed  in 
the  name  of  France  are  not  the  work  of  France.  My 
nation  is  the  victim,  not  the  executioner. 

“Satan,  having  made  the'round  of  the  world,  has  said 
to  his  agents  :  4  Beside  the  unassailable  rock,  only  one 
citadel  has  resisted  us  thus  far.  Come;  storm  that  one 
point,  and  we  will  celebrate  to-morrow  the  most  brilliant 
of  our  victories.’ 

“Such  is  the  word  of  the  problem:  the  soil  of  France 
is  the  field  enclosed  in  which  the  combat  to  the  death,  the 
great  duel  between  good  and  evil,  has  narrowed  and  con¬ 
centrated  itself. 

“  On  the  one  side  the  body  and  its  material  means  of 
pleasure  ;  on  the  other,  the  soul  with  its  generosity  and 
faith. 

“  All  the  nations  of  the  earth,  all  the  legions  of  heaven, 
are  the  witnesses  of  it,  and  await  in  suspense. 

“Admirable  spectacle!  even  in  bondage,  even  under 
the  yoke  of  Satan,  France  remains  so  essentially  expan¬ 
sive  and  beneficent,  that  the  alms  of  her  charity  and  zeal 
still  equal  those  of  all  other  nations  united. 

“Thy  France  is  then  the  first  of  all,  0  my  God!  for¬ 
get  not  her  ancient  Gesta;  look  upon  what  she  still  does; 
sustain  her  courage,  and  in  Thy  mercy  shorten  for  her 
the  days  of  trial.” 


152 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


XIV. 

THE  ANGELS  OF  THE  CHURCHES. 

Angels  are  placed  over  the  most  holy  associations,  the 
immediate  end  of  which  is  to  glorify  God  and  to  do 
good  to  souls. 

The  Universal  Church  has  for  protector  the  Chieftain 
of  the  great  army  of  the  Angels,  the  glorious  St. 
Michael.* 

It  is  he  who  has  his  hand  upon  the  rudder,  on  the  bark 
of  Peter,  when  the  tempest  rages  ;  he  who  keeps  within 
limits  prescribed  by  Providence  the  most  furious  persé¬ 
cutons;  he  who  manifests  strikingly  everywhere  the 
privilege  of  the  divine  spouse  of  the  Redeemer  ;  he  who 
watches  and  presides  over  the  fulfilment  of  the  promises 
once  made  to  man. 

Embracing  with  his  look  space  and  time,  he  communi¬ 
cates  to  the  visible  head  of  Holy  Church  that  elevation 
of  thought,  that  wisdom  of  government,  that  infallibility 
of  doctrine,  which  shows  the  action  of  God  always  present. 

The  Universal  Church  is  at  once  one  and  varied  ;  but 
this  unity  and  this  variety  will  only  be  perfect  if  the  in¬ 
dividual  churches  that  make  it  up,  are  faithful  to  rule. 

In  like  manner  dioceses,  parishes,  all  the  groups  unit¬ 
ing  in  the  same  sanctuary,  assembling  around  the  same 

*For  it  is  fitting  that  he  should  be  placed  over  the  people  of  God  who  obtained 
the  command  of  the  heavenly  army  ;  the  church  should  be  in  the  place  of  pref¬ 
erence  over  all  the  kiugdoms  of  the  world.  (Theologia  Glaromontana,  c.  4, 
alt.  2.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  153 

altar,  accomplishing  publicly  the  same  duties  of  piety 
and  faith,  have  too  their  Angels.* 

The  Angels  experience  the  most  tender  love  for  those 
families  formed  by  community  of  religious  sentiment,  sub¬ 
ject  to  one  immediate  head,  uniting  their  most  sacred  and 
dearest  interests,  and  proceeding  at  the  same  pace  and 
with  one  accord. 

They  take  pleasure  in  this  because  they  see  there  the 
image  of  their  city  in  heaven,  of  that  new  Jerusalem 
which  reposes  in  the  beauty  of  peace. f 

By  interior  inspirations  they  call  souls  to  holy  re¬ 
unions  and  incite  them  to  fervor;  they  bind  to  the  centre 
the  extremities  farthest  apart,  and  strengthen  the  spirit¬ 
ual  bonds  that  unite  them  ;  they  make  the  one  same  life 
flow  into  each  member  and  into  all  the  body. 

They  combat  the  influence  of  the  demons,  render  pure 
the  air  vitiated  by  their  presence,  prevent  crime,  make 
virtue  bud  forth,  spread  the  odor  of  sanctity,  cause  the 
dew  of  grace  to  descend,  keep  up  union  and  charity. 

Prayer  and  good  works  rejoice  the  Angels  of  the  sanc¬ 
tuary.  They  are  gathered  b}7,  them  at  each  re-union, 
and  presented  to  God  as  an  offering  of  great  value. J 
The  heart  of  the  Angel  is  a  censer  of  gold  ;  the  fire 

♦The  holy  fathers  te  ch  that  a  gels  are  placed  to  rule  and  guard  each 
church.  (Theologia  Claromontana,  ibid.)  God  wills  one  angel  should  he  the 
guardian  of  each  church.  (Eusebius,  on  the  47 th  Ps.)  The  care  of  this  city  is 
commuted  to  ange  s.  .  .  .  For  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  other  angels  are  the 
heads  and  patrons  of  other  churches,  as  Joha  teaches  me  in  the  Apocalypse. 
(St.  Greg.  >az.,  I  >isc.  32.) 

f  >'ay,  they  especially  delight  in  the^e  things  which  represent  in  some  way 
among  us  tlie'r  own  state,  so  that  they  see  the  new  Jerusalem  on  earth.  (St. 
Bernard,  o  i  St.  Mich  tel.) 

JTlie  angels  are  wont  to  be  present  to  those  who  pray,  and  delight  in  tho»e 
who  raise  pure  han  !s  in  supplication  ;  they  rejoice  in  <  fleiing  to  God  a  holo¬ 
caust  of  holy  devotion  as  an  odor  of  sweetness.  (St.  Bernard,  Hoorn  3,  on  Missies 


154 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SEE  API Z 


is  the  love  drawn  at  the  altar  of  sacrifice  ;  the  perfumes 
and  the  incense  arc  the  prayers  of  the  faithful.* 

When  prayer  is  fervent,  when  it  springs  simultan¬ 
eously  from  numerous  hearts,  when  it  is  accompanied  hy 
holy  works,  perfumes  abound,  and  the  smoke  ascends 
from  the  censer  to  the  throne  of  God  as  an  odoriferous 
cloud.f 

“  These  good  works  are  not  ours,”  say  the  angels, 
“this  sweat  is  not  our  sweat,  nor  these  our  tears.  We 
offer  them,  0  sovereign  Master,  in  the  name  of  those 
Thou  lovest,  and  the  reward  Thou  wilt  place  in  our 
hands  will  reach  them  from  Thee  and  not  from  us.| 

“  hut  those  prayers  and  those  works  are  the  product 
of  the  field  confided  to  our  care.  With  what  joy  do  we 
garner  them!  May  the  field  of  faithful  hearts  become 
every  day  more  fertile,  that  we  may  be  able  to  offer  Thee 
presents  more  worthy  of  Thee  !  || 

“The  Angels  are  busy  bees  going  from  the  hive  to  the 
flower  and  from  the  flower  to  the  hive,  drawing  from  the 
flowers  and  forming  in  the  hive  honey  of  exquisite  taste. 
The  flowers  are  souls  rendered  fertile  by  the  dew  of 
grace  ;  the  odorous  cells  are  the  treasures  of  merit 
amassed  for  the  next  season  of  repose.”  § 

When  the  offerings  brought  from  the  earth  to  heaven 
by  the  Angels  are  gathered  together,  what  a  treasure! 

*  Apocalypse,  c.  8,  v.  3,  4. 

f  The  Scrip  ure  saying  that  the  smoke  of  incense  ascended  in  the  sight  of  God 
from  the  h.>nd  of  the  angel,  carefully  premises  that  much  incense  was  given 
him  (St.  Bernard,  on  S'.  Mi-  had.) 

Î  Our  sweat,  not  theiis;  our  tears,  not  theirs,  do  they  offer  to  God.  They 
bring  back  His  gifts,  not  theirs.  (Ibid.) 

||  By  field  is  meant  not  the  earth  only,  but  the  hearts  of  many,  which  field  the 
angels  have  undertaken  to  cultivate.  (Origen,  on  Numbers,  c.  1.) 

g  With  q  lick  flight  they  pass  b.etw«  en  heaven  and  earth,  as  bui-y  bees  between 
the  hives  and  the  flowers,  sweetly  disposing  all.  (St.  Anselm,  Mtdüalions  13.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


155 


How  many  nets  of  hidden  penance,  and  how  many  acts 
of  love!  What  regrets  and  what  desires!  what  zeal  and 
what  crucifixions!  the  world  would  never  suspect  it. 

The  Angels  of  the  churches  form  with  their  visible 
heads  that  army  of  guardians  who  watch  on  the  walls  of 
Jerusalem.  They  concentrate  their  care  on  the  earthly 
Jerusalem,  that  of  heaven  not  standing  in  need  of  it.* 

But  under  the  action  of  the  Angels  man  remains  free  ; 
lie  can  withdraw  himself  from  their  salutary  influence 
and  give  himself  up  to  bad  influences,  lienee  it  comes 
about  that  very  often  in  spite  of  the  ardor  and  tender¬ 
ness  of  angelic  zeal,  fidelity  grows  less,  the  faith  be¬ 
comes  weak,  fervor  gives  place  to  indifference,  virtue  to 
vice,  love  to  hate,  sympathy  to  hostility.  What  barren¬ 
ness  then  lor  heaven!  what  a  harvest  for  hell!  What  an 
abundance  of  cockle,  what  a  penury  of  wheat! 

The  Angels  redouble  their  care  to  protect  the  few  souls 
that  remain  firm,  and  to  sustain  the  pastor  in  his  sadness. 

Sometimes  we  see  a  happy  return,  fruit  of  their  united 
efforts;  sometimes  a  church,  after  having  flourished,  dis¬ 
appears,  and  leaves  to  history  a  new  example  of  the  mal¬ 
ediction  that  follows  the  abuse  of  grace. 

Ye  pastors,  sent  to  preside  over  the  destinies  of 
churches,  hasten  to  pay  homage  to  the  Angels  who  arc 
to  be  your  associates.  Invoke  them  and;  consult  them 
often.  Follow  their  inspirations;  act  in  concert  with 
them.  If  an  order,  sacred  for  you  as  the  word  of  God, 
takes  you  some  day  from  your  church,  return  to  them 
your  thanks  ;  express  your  gratitude  for  the  concurrence 

*  Well  art  thou  dealt  with,  O  holy  Mother  Church,  well  art  thou  dealt  with  in 
the  place  of  thy  pilgrimage;  from  htaen  and  from  earth  doth  aid  come  to  thee. 
Who  tuard  thee  slumber  not,  norsleepihy  watchers,  the  holy  angels,  thy  guards, 
»nd  the  souls  of  the  justr.  (St.  Derm,  Sei  m,  on  iha  (hwticles,  77.) 


56 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


hey  gave  you,  and  recommend  to  them  those  you  will 
always  love.* 

In  a  small  country  church,  usually  deserted,  the  An¬ 
gels,  guardians  of  the  sanctuary,  had  admired  often  the 
fervor  of  a  stranger  who  was  wont  to  come,  prostrate 
himself  at  the  foot  of  the  altar,  and  pray  there  for  hours. 

They  saw  him  one  day  shut  himself  up  there,  and  go 
to  the  pulpit.  His  eyes  ranged  over  the  church  as  if  he 
had  a  numerous  and  sympathetic  audience,  and  he  spoke  to 
the  vacancy  words  full  of  tenderness  and  burning  with  zeal. 

“Angels  of  this  church,”  he  cried  as  he  finished, 
“  take  these  words  that  have  come  from  my  heart  ;  carry 
them  to  the  Angels  of  those  who  cannot  hear  me  but 
who  are  ever  my  children  ;  may  these  Angels  place  them 
secretly  in  their  souls,  may  they  cause  them  to  bear  fruit 
there,  that  their  salvation  may  be  attained.” 

The  august  stranger,  a  Bishop  exiled  from  his  diocese, 
remained  in  relation  with  his  spiritual  children,  by  the 
intermediary  of  the  Angels  of  his  church. f 

Pious  travelers,  salute  the  Angels  guardians  of  the  dio¬ 
ceses  and  parishes  you  traverse  ;  have  a  cordial  word  for 
the  Angels  of  the  church  you  perceive  at  distance  : 
pay  them  }mur  homage  as  to  the  masters  of  these  places. 
Pray  them  to  bless  you,  and  address  them  a  prayer  for 
those  they  protect.  Like  God  Himself,  the  Angels  love 
to  be  invoked  in  favor  of  those  they  cherish  most  ten- 
derly. 

*  Beyond  all,  and  before  all,  will  I  cry:  llail,  ye  angels,  guardians  of  this 
churcn.  (St  Greg.  Kaz.  Adieu  to  the  angels  of  his  church  on  quitting  Con 
sta  tinople.  Disc.  o2.) 

fA  bishop  of  tne  Itoman  States  who  had  come  to  France  with  Pius  VIT.  He 
was  residing  at  Trévoux,  and  used  to  visit  the  little  church  of  Ars,  which  was 
to  be  made  illustrious  later  by  the  holiness  of  its  curé.  (See  the  Lite  of  M. 
Vitro  apy,) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


157 


XY. 

TIIE  GUARDIAN  ANGEL. 

Every  man  has,  during  his  life,  as  a  spiritual  guard¬ 
ian,  an  Angel.* 

7  O 

The  sinner  has  his  Angel  as  well  as  the  just  man;  the 
heretic,  the  schismatic,  the  pagan,  just  as  the  believer. 
Judas  had  his  angel.  Antichrist  will  have  his.  God 
wills  that  the  most  perverse  souls  should  not  be  without 
all  help.  The  preventing  in  these  souls  a  great  number 
of  grav.er  faults  they  would  have  committed,  and  thus 
saving  them  from  a  greater  punishment,  is  the  least  part 
of  the  ministry  of  the  Angel. f 

Souls  the  most  perfect,  those  even  who  have  been  con¬ 
firmed  in  grace,  need  their  guardian  Angel  to  protect 
them  against  material  danger,  to  remove  obstacles  to 
further  progress,  to  give  to  their  virtue  the  extension  and 
the  development  God  desires. $  The  Virgin  Mary,  the 
Queen  of  Angels  and  of  men,  the  incomparable  Mother 
of  God,  had  hers. 

The  Incarnate  Word  could  not  have  a  guardian  Angel. 
He  was  not,  like  a  simple  man,  a  journeyer  and  in  trial. 

*  Ps.  90,  v.  11  ;  Matth  ,  c.  18.  v.  10.  Great  is  ihe  d  gnity  of  souls,  since  each 
from  bir  th  has  an  augel  deputed  to  guard  it.  (St.  Jerome,  on  Ih'is  passage  of  St. 
Matthew.) 

f  Although  they  are  not  aided  so  as  to  cause  them  to  merit  eternal  life  by  good 
works,  they  aie  helped  by  being  kept  from  evil  that  could  hurt  themselves  and 
others.  (St.  Tlnmia  1,  q.  118.  art.  4.) 

t  n  the  Acts  we  lead  that  each  of  the  disciples  was  put  in  the  charge  of  some 
angel.  For  when  the  girl  told  that  Peter  was  kno  king  at  the  door,  the  other 
disciples  said:  It  is  his  angel.  (Eusebius  of  Cæsarea,  on  Ps.  47.) 


158 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. \ 


He  enjoyed  the  beatific  vision.  In  Him  dwelt  the  ful¬ 
ness  of  the  Divinity,  and  the  Divinity  Itself  directed  His 
steps,  lie  received  on  earth  the  adoration  and  the  ser¬ 
vice  of  Angels  ;  lie  needed  not  the  care  nor  the  protec¬ 
tion  of  any  one.*  , 

The  same  Angel  is  not  the  guardian  of  several  souls 
at  a  time,  lie  could  he  such  successively  ;  but  God  pre¬ 
fers  to  send  as  guardians  as  many  Angels  as  He  has 
created  human  souls,  to  so  multiply  the  cordial  relations 
between  Angels  and  men.f 

The  Angels  of  a  more  elevated  degree  are  charged  by 
God  to  conduct  the  souls  whom  He  destines  to  greater 
glory,  and  those  who  are  to  do  a  more  important  work  in 
His  Church. f 

The  care  of  the  Angel  begins  with  birth,  continues 
during  life,  and  ends  only  with  the  last  sigh,  or  rather 
after  the  judgment  of  God,  at  the  entry  of  the  soul  into 
eternal  <*jorv,  or  into  eternal  suffering. 

The  guardian  Angel  must  sometimes  make  his  protec¬ 
tion  less  efficacious  and  less  perceptible,  which  happens 
as  the  consequence  of  a  long  abuse  of  grace  ;  ||  but  he 
never  completely  deprives  of  it  the  soul  he  is  leading. 
This  soul,  ever  exposed  to  the  attacks  of  the  demons, 
cannot  be  one  moment  without  his  Angel. §  Deprived  of 

*<  hrist.  as  man,  (i.  e.  his  soul  with  his  ho<ly)  was  immediately  ruled  by  the 
Wo  d.  Wherefo  e  lie  did  not  need  the  guardianship  of  angels.  As  regards  II  is 
soul,  lie  was  in  possession  ox  the  portion  of  the  blessed.  (.St.  Thomas  1,  q.  113, 
art.  4.) 

f  An  angel  is  given  to  each  man  to  guard  him.  (Ibid,  art.  2.) 

t  Tt  is  probable  that  the  greater  angels  are  deputed  to  guard  those  who  are 
chosen  for  a  gi eater  degree  of  glory.  (St.  Thomas,  ibid,  art.  3.) 

||  The  angel  guardian  never  wholly  abandons  a  man,  but  relatively  for  awhile, 
aj,  f>r  instance,  when  he  does  not  prevent  his  being  sib  jecied  to  some  tribnla- 
la  ion,  or  even  hi s  falling  into  sin.  ('t.  Thomas,  ibid.  art.  6.) 

gif  the  good  spirits  should  withdraw,  who  would  withstand  the' onslaught  of 
the  evü  ones  ?  (St.  Bern.,  on  the  90 Ih  Ps.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  159 

his  angel  there  is  no  crime  lie  would  not  commit,  no  out¬ 
rage,  no  misfortune  he  would  not  experience. 

An  Angel  deems  it  a  great  charge  and  an  immense 
honor  to  have  to  guide  one  single  soul  ;  what  an  honor 
and  what  a  charge  for  the  priest  who  receives  the  mission 
to  conduct  thousands  of  souls?  * 

How  tender,  affectionate,  devoted,  constant,  and  effica¬ 
cious  the  care  of  the  guardian  Angel  is,  is  not  to  be  told 
in  a  few  lines.  A  guardian  Angel  has  told  it  in  his 
Mémoires. 

Go,  then,  mv  sister:  On  this  subject  so  interesting  and 
touching,  I  send  thee  to  the  Memoirs  of  a  Guardian 
A  tujel. 

*<>1  e  angel  tli  nks  it  a  great  thing  that  the  guardianship  of  one  soul  is  en¬ 
trusted  to  him,  and  the  e  priests  undertake  the  care  of  thousands  of  souls.  (St. 
Thotuastof  Villanova.  on  the  Angels.) 


1 


MEMOIRS  OE  A  SERAPH. 


XVI. 

THE  ANGEL  RAPHAEL. 

Raphael  is  the  protector  of  travelers,  the  patron  of 
physicians,  the  Angel  of  holy  unions.  He  receives  from 
God  this  triple  mission,  and  manifested  it  in  his  conduct 
toward  young  Tobias. 

Sent,  under  the  guise  of  Azarias,  son  of  Ananias,  to 
guide  young  Tobias  on  a  long  and  perilous  journey, 
Raphael  offered  himself  to  him  from  the  outset,  and  did 
not  leave  him  till  his  return.* 

He  delivers  him  from  the  greatest  dangers,  makes  him 
go  from  prosperity  to  prosperity,  secures  him  success  in 
his  enterprises,  leads  him  sound  and  safe  to  the  paternal 
roof,  bringing  thither  joy  and  good  fortune.! 

lie  excites  in  the  heart  of  the  youth  and  in  those  of 
his  parents  lively  gratitude;  but  content  with  having 
caused  in  them  these  beautiful  sentiments,  he  invites 
them  to  attribute  all  to  God,  and  withdraws  himself  from 
the  marks  of  their  thankfulness.  His  mission  fulfilled, 
he  becomes  invisible. J 

With  reason  does  Holy  Church  confide  to  Raphael 
her  children  in  their  travels,  and  ask  him  to  cover  them 
with  his  wings,  to  direct  them,  to  protect  them  spiritually 
and  bodily,  to  bring  them  back  in  joy  to  their  fireside. 


*  Tobias,  c.  5,  > .  5. 
f  Tobias,  c.  12,  v.  3. 

J  Tobias,  c.  12,  vv.  15,  20,  21. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


161 


Such  are  the  beautiful  and  touching  prayers  she  puts  on 
the  lips  of  her  ministers,  at  the  beginning  of  a  journey, 
and  which  form  the  Itinerary .* 

In  the  year  1496  of  the  Incarnation  of  the  Word,  a 
modest  fleet  was  crossing  the  ocean.  Under  the  guid¬ 
ance  of  a  hero  it  was  going  to  brave  a  thousand  perils 
to  carry  to  the  heathen  the  good  gift  of  the  faith,  j* 

Whence  came  his  confidence,  and  his  holy  daring?  It 
is  easy  to  see  it.  Above  the  admiral’s  vessel  shone  the 
pavilion  of  Gabriel,  the  sublime  spirit  who  first  brought 
from  heaven  to  earth  the  Good  News.  Above  the  sec¬ 
ond  vessel  was  raised  the  banner  of  Raphael,  the  benefi¬ 
cent  spirit  that  preserved  from  the  abyss  and  brings  to 
port. 

Under  the  auspices  of  these  two  protectors,  the  fleet 
sets  sail  for  the  Indies  ;  it  doubles  the  Cape  of  Tempests 
and  makes  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope  ;  it  sails  along  im¬ 
mense  unexplored  lands  ;  it  continues  its  voyage  lor  a 
long  time  without  finding  a  harbor;  finally  it  reaches  a 
hospitable  shore  which  gives  it  succor  and  furnishes  it 
with  valuable  information. 

There  it  hastens  to  fulfil  the  duty  of  thanksgiving.  A 
column  immediately  erected  will  bear  to  future  ages  the 
names  of  Gabriel  and  Raphael,  and  this  shore  will  hence¬ 
forth  be  known  as  the  Place  of  Good  Intelligence. 

What  good  signs  are  placed  each  day  on  the  route  of 
Christian  travelers  by  the  hand  of  Raphael. 

*  May  the  Almighty  and  Merciful  God  direct  us  in  the  way  of  peace  and  pros¬ 
perity,  and  may  the  Angel  Raphael  accompany  us  on  the  way,  so  that  we  return 
in  peace,  health  and  joy  to  our  homes.  (Itinerarium  Clericorum.) 

fThe  fleet  sent  by  the  King  of  Portugal,  Emmanuel,  and  led  by  Vaaco  de 
Gama  in  1496.  ( History  of  the  Indies,  by  Maffei,  1. 1.) 


162 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


Raphael  is  the  patron  of  physicians.  Medicine  of 
God  is  the  name  that  expresses  his  mission  to  men.* 

He  teaches  young  Tobias  the  way  to  restore  sight  to 
his  father  ;  he  makes  him  understand  how  to  drive  away 
the  demons  and  preserve  himself  from  their  malice  ;  he 
shows  in  this  manner  that  he  possesses  equally  the  secrets 
of  nature  and  those  of  grace,  and  that  he  can  work  the 
most  marvellous  cures  both  of  soul  and  of  body. 

His  charity  in  fact  extends  to  one  and  to  the  other. 
He  subordinates  without  doubt  the  care  of  the  health 
and  of  the  life  of  men  to  that  of  their  eternal  salvation  ; 
but  he  is  sensible  to  their  sufferings  and  infirmities;  in 
celebrating  his  feast  the  Church  supplicates  him  to  cure 
the  sick.f 

It  is  he  who  enlightens  Christian  physicians.  He  gives 
them  in  difficult  and  unforeseen  circumstances  those  sud¬ 
den  inspirations  which  astonish  science,  and  which  faith 
does  not  hesitate  to  attribute  to  a  superior  cause. 

It  is  he  who  makes  known  to  men  so  many  simple  and 
healthful  remedies  that  the  Lord  has  prepared  in  plants. 
Many  others  would  be  revealed  to  physicians  and  men  of  , 
science,  if,  less  puffed  up  with  pride,  they  would  conde¬ 
scend  to  have  recourse  to  him  with  humility. 

Happy,  among  men,  the  physician  of  intelligence  and 
of  faith  who  will  appreciate  the  aid  placed  at  his  disposal 
by  the  Physician  of  God!  He  will  show  himself  grate¬ 
ful:  he  will  reserve  a  place  of  honor  in  his  dwelling  for 

*  Raphael  in  Hebrew  signifies  the  physician  of  God,  and  the  healing  of  God. 
(St.  Gregory,  Horn.  34.) 

1 0  Thou  who  health  to  all  dost  give. 

From  heav’n  Thy  Angel  Raphael  send, 

That  ailing  men,  restored,  may  live, 

That  all  our  acts  to  Thee  may  tend. 

{Hymn  of  the  Feast  of  St.  Raphael.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


163 


the  image  of  Raphael,  and  will  crown  it  with  flowers. 
Morning  and  evening  he  will  salute  the  heavenly  patron 
of  his  art  ;  nor  will  he  begin  study  or  visit  to  the  sick 
without  casting  a  glance  to  him,  without  invoking  him, 
without  saying: 

“Come  to  my  aid,  0  Spirit,  friend  of  man!  by  com¬ 
municating  thy  wonderful  secrets  enlighten  my  ignorance; 
give  wisdom  to  my  determinations;  give  steadiness  to 
my  incertitude  ;  prevent  mistake  ;  second  my  care  ;  work 
the  cure.  May  all  my  art  through  thee  become  charity, 
and  every  consolation  procured  for  the  poor  sick  makes 
them  praise  God.” 

Raphael  is  the  Angel  of  holy  unions. 

He  banished  and  condemned  to  the  desert  the  evil 
spirit  who  multiplied  mourning  and  death  in  the  house  of 
Sarah.*  He  caused  every  spiritual  and  temporal  bless¬ 
ing  to  come  down  on  the  union  of  Sarah  and  Tobias  ;  in 
the  wise  lessons  he  gave  them,  he  has  prepared  for  all 
spouses  in  the  future  the  secret  of  their  happiness. 

When  Raphael  is  previously  consulted  by  prayer,  and 
is  hearkened  to,  there  is  none  of  those  alliances  which  are 
the  source  of  misfortune  ;  nothing  is  seen  of  that  hell  on 
earth,  the  home  without  God;  none  of  those  unions  is 
contracted  that  profane  and  outrage  the  Sacrament  ;  nor 
are  families  found,  the  children  of  which  are  the  afflic¬ 
tion  and  dishonor  of  the  parents,  before  becoming  the 
scourge  of  society. 

When  Raphael  himself  has  prepared  and  brought  to  a 
good  issue  an  alliance,  he  invites  to  it  the  Angels,  guard¬ 
ians  of  the  family,  and  presents  for  their  ratification  the 


*  Tobias,  c.  8,  v.  3. 


164 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


•  / 

happy  contract.  Each  brings  his  benediction  and  his 
wishes.  They  are  very  good  for  the  future:  peace, joy, 
hope. 

Ye  parents  and  children  that  dream  of  an  alliance  rich 
in  prosperity,  before  any  step,  before  any  choice,  pray, 
invoke  Raphael. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


165 


XVII. 

THE  EMENDS  OF  THE  ANGELS. 

Men  who  live  in  familiarity  and  intimacy  with  the  An¬ 
gels  experience  from  this  wonderful  effects.  Their  habits 
of  thought  soon  become  elevated  and  holy,  and  their 
society  heavenly. 

God  wishes  His  envoys  to  be  received  as  they  deserve, 
and  wills  that  we  redouble  our  kind  offices  toward  those 
who  are  well  disposed  in  our  regard  and  honor  us. 

Those  are  especially  dear  to  us  who  recall  our  pres¬ 
ence  and  respect  it,  not  doing  or  saying  anything  to 
wound  our  eyes  or  offend  our  ears  ;  those  who  show  they 
feel  our  affection,  manifesting  their  gratitude,  saluting  us 
with  love,  pour  out  their  thanks;  those  who  have  full 
confidence  in  us,  loving  to  repose  under  our  wings,  con¬ 
sulting  us,  recurring  to  us  in  their  temptation  and  peril  ; 
those  who  try  to  imitate  us,  seeking  to  reproduce  our 
perfections,  detaching  themselves  from  earth,  aspiring  to 
the  realities  of  heaven,  leading  in  bodies  of  slime  a  spir¬ 
itual  life. 

The  men  who  maintain  such  relations  with  us  have 
truly  their  conversation  in  heaven,  and  those  around 
them  are  not  slow  in  perceiving  it.  In  seeing  what  their 
sentiments  and  conduct  are,  it  is  easily  understood  what 
company  they  keep,  and  what  are  their  friendships. 

To  them  does  the  legend  of  the  traveling  monk  apply. 


1 


166  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SEttAPH. 

Having  returned  to  his  convent,  this  monk  told  the  as¬ 
sembled  community  the  wonders  of  sanctity  he  had  seen 
in  other  houses.  The  religious  heard  him  with  transports 
of  feeling,  and  as  it  were  in  ecstasy.  “Brother,”  said 
one  of  them  all  at  once,  “your  habit  gives  forth  an  odor 
not  of  this  earth;  did  you  not  come  from  heaven?” 

The  society  of  the  Angels  banishes  that  of  demons, 
and  purifies  the  air  around  man.  It  has  all  the  advan¬ 
tages  and  none  of  the  disadvantages  of  human  associa¬ 
tions.  Among  men,  the  less  perfect  can  find  precious 
aid  in  the  intimacy  of  him  who  is  more  perfect;  but  will 
not  the  latter  find  in  a  less  pure  atmosphere  what  may 
taint  his  innocence  and  virtue  ? 

Angels  have  often  appeared  to  those  who  loved  to  live 
with  them.  The  Evangelist  St.  John  saw  the  angelic 
scenes  contained  in  his  Apocalypse  pass  before  his  vision. 
St.  Paul  went  through  our  ranks,  and  reached  even  the 
most  sublime  hierarchy.  Denys  the  Areopagite  told  of  the 
organization  of  the  choirs  and  of  the  celestial  hierarchies. 
Hermas  wrote  under  our  dictation  his  book,  The  Pastor . 
St.  Augustin  had  precious  views  on  our  nature,  our  trial, 
our  beatitude.  St.  Gregory  the  Great  gave  his  age,  and 
bequeathed  to  those  to  follow,  those  lessons  that  taught 
men  our  perfections  and  our  virtues.  St.  Bernard  has 
described  magnificently  the  action  of  God  in  each  angelic 
choir,  and  traced  pages  which  are  an  eloquent  invitation 
to  seek  the  society  and  the  friendship  of  the  Angels. 
To  St.  Thomas  is  due  the  greatest  effort  of  reason  aided 
by  faith  to  recount  the  life  of  pure  spirits.  His  ideas 
and  his  language  are  the  reflex  of  our  own.  His  perfect 
purity  procured  him  this  privilege.  He  was  pure,  in  fact, 
as  a  heavenly  spirit.  From  the  day  two  Angels  girt  his 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  167 

loins  with  a  mystic  chord,  his  heart  and  his  senses  were 
not  even  grazed  by  temptation. 

The  souls  that  have  been  rejoiced  by  the  sight  of  An¬ 
gels,  have  conversed  with  them,  asked  their  counsel,  ex¬ 
perienced  their  aid,  are  numerous.  §t.  Margaret  of 
Cortona  received  daily  the  visit  of  Angels  and  precious 
teachings.  St.  Mary  d’Oignies  directed  her  conduct  in 
all  things  by  the  orders  her  Angel  brought  her.  St. 
Frances  of  Rome  enjoyed  the  visits  of  her  Angel  and 
those  made  her  by  the  Angel  of  her  child  who  had  died 
in  the  flower  of  his  age.  St.  John  Chrysostom  saw  the 
Angels  descend  around  the  altar  while  he  was  celebrating 
the  Holy  Sacrifice.  St.  John  of  Ravenna  was  called 
Angeloptes,  or  Seer  of  Angels,  on  account  of  the  fre¬ 
quent  visions  of  Angels  with  which  he  was  favored.  St. 
Ambrose  heard  an  Angel  dictate  to  him  the  words  he 
addressed  to  the  people  from  the  pulpit. 

But  listen  to  a  soul  tell,  herself,  her  relations  with  the 
Angels.  A  page  of  the  Seraphic  Theresa  could  not  de¬ 
face  the  Memoirs  of  a  Seraph.  “Although  the  Angels 
appear  to  me  frequently,  it  is  nearly  always  without  my 
seeing  them.  But  it  has  pleased  sometimes  our  Lord 
that  I  should  see  one  at  my  left,  in  bodily  form.  He 
was  small,  of  marvelous  beauty,  his  countenance  shining 
wflth  such  light  that  he  appeared  to  me  to  be  one  of  those 
spirits  of  the  first  order  who  are  all  on  fire  with  the  love 
of  God,  and  who  are  called  Seraphs.  They  did  not  tell 
me  their  names,  but  I  saw  there  wras  a  very  great  differ¬ 
ence  between  them  in  heaven.  This  Angel  had  in  his 
hand  a  dart  of  gold,  the  point  of  which  was  very  large, 
and  which  seemed  to  me  tipped  with  fire  ;  it  appeared  to 
me  that  he  buried  it  several  times  in  my  heart,  and  that 


168 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


every  time  he  drew  it  out  he  tore  from  me  all  within  me^ 
and  left  me  burning  with  such  great  love  of  God,  that 
the  violence  of  this  fire  made  me  utter  cries  accompanied 
with  such  joy  that  I  could  not  desire  to  be  freed  from  ipf 
nor  find  repose  or  content  but  in  God  alone.  This  p&ln 

I  speak  of  is  not  corporal,  but  wholly  spiritual,  although 

< . 

the  body  is  not  without  a  good  part  in  it,  and  the  sweet¬ 
ness  of  the  interviews  that  take  place  then  between  God 
and  the  soul  is  so  wonderful  that  not  being  able  to  ex¬ 
press  it,  I  pray  Him  to  cause  those  to  experience  it  who 
will  think  that  what  I  say  is  only  “imagination  and 
fable.”* 

Thousands  of  other  souls  have  drawn  from  their  rela¬ 
tions  with  us  the  virtues  with  which  they  embalmed  the 
earth;  but  these  relations  remained  a  heavenly  secret. f 

May  the  word  inspired  by  us  which  fell  from  the  lips 
of  the  great  St.  Leo  as  he  spoke  from  the  elevation  of 
his  pontifical  chair  re-echo  ever  in  the  Church,  and  find 
a  resting  place  in  the  heart  of  each  one  :  “  Make  to 
yourselves  friendship  with  the  Angels. 


*  Life,  of  St.  Theresa ,  by  herself,  c.  29. 
f  Bollandists. 

JMake  friendships  with  the  angels. 


I 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


169 


XYIII. 

THE  LAST  JUDGMENT. 

At  the  sight  of  the  scandals  that  desolate  the  earth 
more  than  one  Angel  have  offered  themselves  to  God  to 
exterminate  it.  But  God  has  answered  :  “Wait,  let  the 
harvest  ripen.” 

The  harvest  ripe,  we  shall  soon  gather  the  good  grain 
into  the  storehouses  of  the  Heavenly  Father,  while  ster¬ 
ile  and  poisonous  plants  will  be  thrown  into  the  flames 
of  the  furnace.* 

A  general  judgment  opened  the  series  of  ages  ;  a  gen¬ 
eral  judgment  will  take  place  to  close  it.  In  the  last  as 
in  the  first  we  shall  take  part  in  the  action  of  God,  and 
rays  of  His  glory  will  be  reflected  from  us. 

The  signs  preceding  the  great  day  will  be  our  work. 
To  commence  to  punish  men  by  their  own  perversity,  all 
we  shall  have  to  do  is  to  leave  them  to  the  free  scope  of 
their  passions.  Egotism,  hate,  perfidy,  violence,  perse¬ 
cution,  will  soon  have  made  the  earth  a  sojourn  of 
horror.  • 

Physical  disorder  will  be  coupled  with  disorder  of 
morals.  It  will  take  on  such  rapid  development,  it  will 
attain  such  proportions,  that  soon  the  last  man  will  have 
disappeared,  and  there  will  not  remain  on  the  surface  of 
the  earth  a  single  living  being. 


*St.  Matth.,  c.  13,  v.  30. 


170 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


An  universal  conflagration  will  forthwith  reduce  every¬ 
thing  to  ashes. 

After  a  marked  delay,  w’e  shall  give  the  great  signal 
of  resurrection.  We  shall  give  that  great  call  which  all 
will  hear  and  none  will  fail  to  heed:  u  Arise,  ye  dead, 
and  come  to  judgment.” 

By  our  ministry  is  immediately  gathered  the  dust  that 
was  formerly  the  bodies  of  men,  and  the  face  of  the 
globe  disappears  for  the  multitude  of  generations  reas¬ 
sembled.* 

Heaven  and  hell  open.  From  one  side  and  from  the 
other  fly,  like  clouds,  the  souls  that  are  to  reanimate 
these  bodies. 

It  belongs  to  divine  power  and  to  divine  justice  to 
operate  this  new  union  of  bodies  and  souls,  which  ex¬ 
ceeds,  like  the  first,  the  power  of  all  creatures. f 

In  the  midst  of  space,  where  are  moving  only  the  ex¬ 
tinguished  stars,  appears  all  at  once  a  throne  borne  by 
the  Angels,  and  upon  the  throne  a  Judge,  a  God,  Jesus 
Christ. 

Armed  with  His  Cross,  He  comes  in  His  power  and 
majesty  to  preside  over  the  last  assizes  of  the  human 
race.  “Come,  My  Angels,  join  Me  in  My  sovereignty, 
and  with  Me  judge  the  universe.  Before  you  I  will  ac¬ 
knowledge  him  who  confesseddne,  and  I  will  be  ashamed 
of  him  who  was  ashamed  of  Me 4  Bet  the  faithful  sheep 
be  on  the  right;  on  the  left  the  impure  goats!  ”  || 


*  The  gathering  of  the  ashes  and  their  preparation  to  repair  the  human  body: 
for  this  God  will  use  the  ministry  of  the  angels.  (St,  Thomas,  q.  78,  art.  3.) 

f  As  the  soul  is  created  immediately  by  God,  so  will  it  be  immediately  united 
with  the  body  by  God,  without  any  co-operation  on  the  part  of  the  angels. 
(Ibid.) 

J  St.  Luke,  c.  12,  v.  8,  9. 

||  St.  Matth.,  c.  25,  v.  33. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH . 


171 


Reechoing  his  voice,  we  repeat:  “ The  faithful  sheep 
to  the  right;  the  impure  goats  to  the  left!”  and  we  at 
once  make  the  great  separation.* 

“  Slaves  of  vice  and  of  passion,  to  the  left  !  Hateful 
hearts  and  full  of  gall,  rapacious  and  unjust  souls,  to  the 
left!  Obstinate  heretics,  proud  philosophers,  impious 
blasphemers,  cowardly  Christians,  to  the  left!  Ye  that 
corrupted  and  gave  scandal,  persecutors  of  innocence  and 
of  virtue,  to  the  left!  To  the  left,  traitorous  Judases, 
hypocrital  Caiaphases,  impure  Herods,  cowardly  Pilâtes 
of  all  time  ! 

“But  ye,  0  innocent  souls!  who  preserved  spotless 
the  robe  of  holy  baptism,  and  ye,  0  repentant  souls  ! 
who  washed  away  the  stains  of  your  garments  in  the 
Blood  of  the  Lamb,  to  the  right  of  Jesus  Christ!  And 
ye,  guardian  spirits  of  your  virtuous  children,  faithful 
parents,  with  them  to  the  right!  Heroic  mother  of  the 
Maccabees,  with  your  seven  brilliant  martyrs,  to  the  right! 
To  the  right,  martyrs  of  purity,  martyrs  of  faith,  mar¬ 
tyrs  of  good  example,  martyrs  of  all  holy  laws,  with 
your  noble  wounds  shining  like  jewels!  ” 

The  separation  completed,  a  ray  of  divine  light  de¬ 
scends  to  the  very  depth  of  each  conscience,  and  shows 
it  to  every  eye.  Glorious  revelation  for  the  just!  hum¬ 
bling  confusion  for  the  sinner! 

All  understand  it  at  this  moment:  the  end  God  has  in 
view  is  to  confirm  in  the  most  striking  manner  the  sen¬ 
tence  pronounced  upon  each  one  at  the  particular  judg¬ 
ment,  to  justify  the  conduct  of  His  Providence  in  the 
government  of  the  world. 

Thousands  of  intelligent  creatures  have  condemned 


Matth.,  c.  13,  v.  49. 


172 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


His  wisdom,  and  have  seemed  to  prevail  over  Him.  In¬ 
stead  of  confounding  them,  He  has  been  silent.  He  has 
been  silent,  but  with  the  intention  of  one  day  breaking 
that  long  silence,  of  splendidly  manifesting  His  glory 
and  the  shame  of  His  enemies. 

Every  creature,  in  going  to  take  its  place  for  eternity, 
must  be  able  to  say:  “Thou  art  truly  just,  Almighty 
God,  and  all  Thy  judgments  are  equitable.” 

The  Sovereign  Judge  rests  His  eye  upon  the  elect, 
and  says  to  them: 

“Come  now,  Blessed  of  My  Father,  possess  the  king¬ 
dom  prepared  for  you  from  the  beginning  of  the  world.” 

And,  turning  toward  the  reprobate,  He  adds: 

“Depart,  accursed;  go  into  eternal  fire  prepared  for 
the  devil  and  his  angels.”* 

Following  the  Lamb  and  the  Cross,  the  elect  and  the 
Angels  mount  up  in  glory'. 

Through  the  yawning  earth,  the  damned  men  and  de¬ 
mons  go  down  into  the  abyss. 

The  city  of  good  and  the  city  of  evil  will  no  longer 
be  in  strife.  They  will  never  be  again  in  mutual  rela¬ 
tion.  An  impassable  chaos  divides  them.f 

Our  work  is  accomplished.  Up  to  the  present  we 
have  been  the  instruments  of  justice  and  of  mercy.  We 
are  to-day  the  witnesses  of  the  eternal  triumph  of  the 
one  and  of  the  other. 

Without  being  aware  of  the  day  nor  the  hour  when 
these  imposing  scenes  will  begin,  we  know  the  great  part 
we  shall  have  in  them. 


*St.  Matth.,  c.  25,  v.  34,  41. 
f  St.  Luke,  c.  16,  v.  26. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPB. 


173 


XIX. 

BETWEEN  HEAVEN  AND  HELL.  , 

At  the  moment  of  the  flight  of  the  elect  heavenward, 
and  of  the  fall  of  the  reprobate  into  hell,  numerous  Angels 
remained  there,  looking  forth  from  glory.  What  object 
is  it  fixes  their  attention  ?  what  mission  remains  to  be  ful¬ 
filled  ? 

See  those  souls  with  countenance  impressed  with  sweet 
joy,  of  look  veiled  with  modesty,  of  confident  bearing. 
Having  come  to  judgment  they  have  remained  in  the 
space  left  free  by  the  great  separation.  Their  Angels 
are  going  to  conduct  them  to  the  place  of  their  eternal 
residence. 

For  the  Angels  who  are  all  glorified  or  damned  there 
are  but  two  places  of  sojourn  in  eternity.  For  souls 
there  are  three.* 

In  an  intermediary  city  will  be  the  souls  who  during 
their  earthly  life  committed  no  grievous  fault,  but  who 
died  in  original  sin.  There  will  be  the  millions  and  mil¬ 
lions  of  little  children  carried  off  prematurely  before  re¬ 
ceiving  the  baptism  of  regeneration. 

In  these  souls  no  ray  from  on  high  shines  ;  they  do  not 
see  the  face  of  God;  they  do  not  enjoy  celestial  beati¬ 
tude  ;  they  possess  neither  grace  nor  glory  ;  they  are 
not  in  the  supernatural  order. 

*  By  divine  justice  heaven  is  allotted  to  the  saints,  hell  to  the  wicked,  the 
earth  to  children  dying  in  original  sin.  (Corn,  a  Lapide,  on  St.  Peter,  2  ep.,  c.  3, 
v.  13.) 


174 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPE. 


And  nevertheless  they  suffer  no  pain  ;  they  are  not 
tormented  by  any  apprehension;  they  have  the  assur¬ 
ance  that  there  will  never  be  anything  in  common  be¬ 
tween  them  and  the  damned. 

In  seeing  the  happiness  of  the  elect,  they  are  not  sad¬ 
dened  ;  they  know  that  if  they  are  deprived  of  it,  it  is 
not  through  their  fault,  nor  by  the  violation  of  any  right 
due  them.  In  the  perfect  candor  of  their  spirit,  they 
pay  homage  to  divine  equity. 

They  too  have  undergone  their  judgment.  Objects  at 
the  same  time  of  justice  and  of  mercy,  they  adore  the 
sentence  that  excludes  them  from  heaven  without  con¬ 
demning  them  to  hell. 

In  the  universal  restoration  they  have  received  great 
favors.  Their  intelligence,  their  will,  their  imagination, 
their  heart,  all  their  faculties,  even  their  bodies  and  their 
senses,  have  been  raised  to  a  high  degree  of  perfection. 

They  can  now  admire  and  taste  in  a  more  vivid  way 
the  beauty  and  the  excellence  they  admire  in  creation. 
They  know  God  and  love  Him  with  a  natural  love  as 
their  Author.  They  thank  Him  for  having  created  them 
and  for  having  preserved  them  from  sin  and  from  damna¬ 
tion. 

They  love  the  elect,  and,  among  the  elect,  those  espec¬ 
ially  who  have  been  their  relations  ;  they  love  the  Angels 
and  are  grateful  to  them  for  their  good  offices. 

United  in  a  friendly  and  cordial  manner  in  one  society, 
they  will  live  a  sweet  tranquil  life,  full  of  charm,  and 
will  enjoy  a  very  great  natural  happiness. 

God  will  not  then  have  created  uselessly,  and  uselessly 
placed  in  the  universe  this  multitude  of  souls  of  little  chil¬ 
dren.  Far  from  remaining  inactive,  these  souls,  on  the 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


175 


contrary,  will  be  full  of  life  and  action,  and  will  not 
cease  to  praise  the  Author  of  their  natural  beatitude.  * 

The  Angels,  without  manifesting  themselves  to  them  in 
their  state  of  glory,  will  lead  them  to  the  place  of  their 
definite  sojourn,  will  often  visit  them  there  to  entertain 
themselves  with  them  speaking  of  the  divine  beauty  and 
goodness. 

This  sojourn  will  be  the  terrestrial  globe.  It  is  there 
that  at  the  sight  of  the  sun,  the  stars,  the  firmament,  the 
rivers,  the  mountains,  the  seas,  space,  and  of  all  regene¬ 
rated  nature,  they  will  feel  themselves  constantly  excited 
to  raise  their  thoughts  to  the  Creator,  and  bless  His 
name.f 


*  Lessius,  on  the  Divine  Attributes ,  1.  13,  c.  23.  A  long  and  beautiful  thesis 
which  is  thus  summed  up  by  Cornelius  a  Lapide:  Lessius,  from  St.  Thomas, 
Seotus,  Marsilius,  De  Soto,  and  other  scholastics,  teaches  that  these  infants  will 
appear  in  the  general  judgment,  will  receive  the  pain  of  loss,  but  will  be  per¬ 
fected  in  their  intellect,  will,  and  other  natural  faculties,  so  that,  content  and 
happy,  they  may  live  for  all  eternity  in  concord  and  unity,  love  and  praise  God, 
because  He  preserved  them  from  sin  and  from  hell,  and  adorned  them  with  such 
great  gilts  of  nature  that  they  can  contemplate  created  things,  and  especially 
the  excellence  of  their  soul  as  well  as  that  of  the  angels,  and  thence  admire  and 
glorify  the  Creator;  for  otherwise  they  would  be  eternally  idle.  For  it  is  not  to 
be  believed  that  God  wills  so  many  millions  of  souls  to  be  always  in  idleness, 
and  as  if  in  vain  in  the  world.  For  if,  as  doctors  everywheie  teach,  these  in¬ 
fants,  God  so  providing,  do  not  feel  grief  at  the  loss  of  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
because  they  did  not  lose  it  through  their  fault;  why  should  not  we  believe  that 
in  the  common  restoration  of  the  whole  world,  they  are  to  be  made  perfect  in 
the  natural  order,  so  as  to  know,  love,  and  praise  God,  and  so  live  a  quiet  and 
happy  life?  Thus  Lessius;  and  he  confirms  wliat  he  says  with  many  reasons. 

f  What  place  is  belter  fitted  for  these  infants  than  the  earth?  For  they  will 
be  able  to  behold  and  contemplate  on  it  the  sun,  the  heavens,  the  stars,  the  sea, 
and  all  other  objects,  and  by  means  of  these  love  and  praise  God.  (Corn,  a 
Lapide  on  St.  Peter,  2  Ep.,  c.  3.) 


176 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


xx. 

THE  ONE  CITY. 

When  good  and  evil  will  have  seen  their  long  strife 
close,  and  their  eternal  separation  accomplished,  the  elect 
and  the  Angels  will  form  but  one  city.* 

Souls  will  be  incorporated  into  the  nine  choirs,  or 
rather  the  nine  choirs  will  be  incorporated  into  the  mys¬ 
tical  body  formed  by  Jesus  Christ,  by  means  of  souls. 
By  reason  of  the  dignity  of  its  Head,  this  body  is  above 
all  the  choirs  of  heaven  united. f 

The  definitive  constitution  of  the  holy  city  depending 
on  the  free  disposition  of  grace,  and  on  the  free  cooperation 
of  the  human  will,  it  is  not  yet  fully  known  to  us.  Each 
day  will  bring  its  revelation  till  the  end. 

We  know,  however,  that  the  Mother  of  God  will  keep, 
in  glory,  the  rank  she  received  on  her  reaching  it,  and 
that  she  will  always  be  immeasurably  raised  above  the 
Angels  and  men. 

Lucifer,  being  the  most  elevated  of  pure  spirits  by  na¬ 
ture,  would  have  been  the  highest  in  glory  had  he  re¬ 
mained  faithful.  Lucifer  having  fallen,  will  the  highest 
place  be  held  by  an  Angel  or  by  a  soul  ?  Neither  An¬ 
gels  nor  men  will  know  this  before  the  last  day.  It  will 

♦There  will  not  be  two  cities  of  men  and  of  the  Angels,  but  one.  (St.  Aug., 
City  of  God,  1. 12,  c.  1.)  Both  will  be  one  by  eternal  fellowship.  (Id.,  Enchirid¬ 
ion,  c.  56.) 

t  Bossuet,  Letters. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  177 

belong  to  that  creature  that,  after  Mary,  has  most  loved 
God.* 

There  will  be  souls  equal,  nay  superior,  in  merit  to  the 
Angels  of  various  grades.  The  Angels  performed  in  the 
day  of  their  trials,  acts  very  perfect  ;  but  they  had  but 
an  instant  to  merit.  Human  souls  have  sometimes  long 
years  of  faithful  service,  and  can  multiply,  without  ceas¬ 
ing,  their  meritorious  acts.f 

There  are  souls  worthy  of  glory,  though  inferior  to 
the  lowest  of  the  Angels.  Such  are  the  souls  of  little 
infants  that  died  with  only  the  grace  of  baptism.  These 
souls  will  come  next  to  the  ninth  choir,  of  which  they 
may  be  regarded  as  the  complement.^ 

From  the  glorious  city  there  goes  up  to  God  ever  the 
hymn  of  thanksgiving. 

Thanksgiving  from  the  Angels  for  that  rich  nature,  that 
abundance  of  grace,  that  weight  of  glory  they  received 
of  divine  goodness  ;  for  their  part  in  divine  Providence 
and  their  concurrence  in  the  work  of  man’s  salvation; 
for  those  sweet  relations  which  it  was  given  them  to  con¬ 
tract  with  souls  in  guiding  them  in  the  road  to  heaven. 

Thanksgiving  of  souls  for  their  creation,  their  redemp¬ 
tion,  their  justification.  Creatures  dead,  given  back  to 
life  by  the  virtue  of  the  Precious  Blood;  dead  again, 

*  Whether  some  men  are  to  be  happier  than  all  the  Angels,  is  uncertain,  nor* 
can  it  be  affirmed  with  foundation,  although  neither  can  it  with  any  greater 
foundation  be  denied.  (Suarez,  1.  1,  c.  14,  n.  19.) 

f  By  the  gift  of  grace  men  can  merit  so  great  glory  that  they  equal  the  Angels, 
according  to  each  grade  of  the  Angels.  (St.  Thomas,  1,  q.  108,  art.  8.)  Man, 
made  of  vde  clay,  while  he  overcomes  earthly  taint,  while  he  breaks  the  stimu¬ 
lus  of  blood,  while  he  triumphs  over  the  passions  of  the  flesh,  surpasses  the 
Angels  by  merit,  but  not  by  nature.  (St.  Chrysologus,  Serm.  119.) 

t  Many  are  inferior  in  glory  to  all  the  Angels,  as  is  manifest  in  infants  that 
die  in  the  state  of  grace.  These  can  be  said  to  either  constitute  a  new  order,  or 
to  be  aggregated  to  the  lowest  order  of  Angels.  (Suarez,  1. 1,  c.  14,  n.  19.) 


I 


/ 


178  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

dead  a  thousand  times,  always  resuscitated,  always  par¬ 
doned  !  What  souvenirs  !  what  impressions  !  To  have 
deserved  so  many  times  hell,  and  to  see  oneself  in  the 
glory  of  heaven!  Eternally  will  they  sing  the  mercies 
of  the  Lord! 

God  is  all  in  all,  and  in  all  God  loves  as  He  is  loved  ; 
hut  this  unity  of  principle  in  the  life  of  glory  does  not 
interfere  with  the  particular  intimate  relations  of  souls 
and  of  Angels. 

Time  has  prepared  for  eternity  the  most  delightful  re¬ 
lations  and  unions.  All  souls  have  received  from  the 
Angels  great  benefits.  They  owe  to  them,  after  God, 
their  salvation.  In  distributing  their  parts  on  earth,  God 
had  in  mind  to  prepare  and  bring  on  this  mutual  cordial¬ 
ity.  It  was  always  in  His  designs. 

In  heaven,  each  soul  recognizes  his  benefactor  and  is 
recognized  by  him.  The  ministry  of  the  benefactor  is 
ended,  as  far  as  regards  salvation,  but  not  in  what  re¬ 
gards  increase  of  glory.  And  the  gratitude  of  the  soul 
for  the  one  and  the  other  benefit  will  never  have  an  end.* 

On  earth,  how  restricted  are  the  relations  of  man! 
Unknown  by  those  who  preceded  him,  and  by  those  who 
will  follow  him,  he  is  isolated  even  in  the  midst  of  his 
contemporaries. 

The  relations  too  were,  besides,  cold,  superficial,  with¬ 
out  intimacy,  without  true  interest.  Where  are  the 
spirits  and  the  human  hearts  that  find  their  delight  in 
mutual  communication  ? 

Among  the  Angels  from  the  first  instant  and  for  ever, 

*  Although  after  the  day  of  judgment  men  are  no  longer  to  be  led  to  salvation 
by  the  ministry  of  Angels,  still  those  who  have  already  their  salvation,  will 
have  some  illumination  from  the  offices  of  the  Angels.  (St.  Thomas,  1,  q.  108, 
art.  8.) 


—  ■ 


, 


' 


I 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  179 


each  had  relations  with  all  ;  relations  that  were  constant, 
cordial,  full  of  affection,  unreserved,  perfect. 

Union  is  brought  about  by  unity  of  destiny.  In  the 
Angels  and  in  men  there  is  the  same  vision,  the  same 
love,  the  same  delight,  the  same  eternity. 

Through  that  variety  of  hierarchies  and  of  choirs,  we 
shall  see  another  variety,  ravishing  too,  that  of  the  Pa¬ 
triarchs,  of  the  Prophets,  of  the  Apostles,  of  Martyrs, 
of  Doctors,  of  Confessors,  of  Virgins,  of  innocent  souls, 
of  repentant  souls,  of  souls  of  old  men  or  of  infants,  all 
beautiful  to-day,  all  smiling  and  brilliant  with  youth. 

Among  all  these  dwellers  in  the  same  country,  who 
have  arrived  from  exile,  recognizing  each  other  and  lov¬ 
ing  each  other,  will  be  told  without  end  the  marvels  of' 
divine  goodness,  and  there  will  be  heard  harmonious 
chants  of  thanksgiving  ^.ver  beginning  anew. 


BOOK  THE  EIGHTH. 


RELATIONS  OF  THE  ANGELS  WITH  THE 
MATERIAL  WORLD. 


^  I 

THE  SONG  OF  THE  MORN. 

Stars  of  the  morn,  we  had  risen  at  the  dawn  to  assist 
at  the  first  work  of  divine  wisdom,  and  begin  the  canticle 
of  admiration,  in  which  every  creature  will  soon  take 
part.* 

Eldest  sons  of  God,  we  were  up  before  the  awakening 
of  man  ;  we  had  undergone  one  trial,  the  beatific  light 
penetrated  us  and  clothed  us,  when  the  magnificent  evo¬ 
lutions  of  the  six  days  commenced. 

It  was  given  us  to  see,  under  divine  action,  chaos  be¬ 
come  animated,  illumed,  rise  to  magnificent  proportions, 
change  itself  into  this  beautiful  universe. 

Thanks  be  to  Thee,  0  Lord!  for  having  made  us  assist 
at  this  unique  spectacle,  to  have  made  us  take  part  in 
Thy  works,  inviting  us  to  celebrate  them  with  Thee  ! 

The  first  object  of  our  admiration  in  matter  is  its  crea¬ 
tion.  To  God  the  creation  of  spirits  and  that  of  bodies 
is  equally  facile.  In  the  Angel  and  in  the  atom,  infinite 


*  Job,  c.  38,  y.  7. 


(180) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


181 


power  acts  without  effort.  God  wills:  spirit  and  body, 
everything  exists.* 

Still,  if  one  of  these  creations  ought  to  appear  to  us 
more  surprising,  it  would  be  that  of  the  atom.  When 
spirit  produces  spirit,  there  is  mystery  ;  but  there  is  pre¬ 
served  analogy  between  effect  and  cause.  But  when 
spirit  produces  matter,  all  analogy  disappears,  and  the 
mystery  is  shrouded  in  new  darkness. 

Our  eyes  opened  on  the  mass  of  confused  elements, 
and  at  the  view  of  the  Spirit  of  God  brooding  over  the 
waters  and  giving  them  fecundity,  we  prostrated  our¬ 
selves  in  adoration. 

At  the  opening  of  every  new  day,  bringing  its  own 
wonders,  at  the  appearance  of  light,  of  the  firmament, 
of  the  waters,  of  the  earth,  of  the  stavs,  of  animals,  we 
were  thrilled  with  joy,  and  we  reechoed  the  word  of  ap¬ 
probation  cast  by  the  voice  of  the  Infinite  upon  the 
bosom  of  the  infinite.! 

But  when  God,  to  fix  our  attention,  had  said  to  us: 
“ Let  us  make  man  to  our  image  and  likeness;”  when 
He  had  made  us  assist  at  the  production  of  His  last  and 
most  beautiful  masterpiece;  when  we  saw  rise  before  us 
that  being  like  to  none  other,  formed  of  body  and  soul, 
invested  with  universal  royalty  over  animals  and  plants, 
our  admiration  had  no  limit. 

Our  acclamations  recomménced,  and  we  reechoed  with 
new  transports  the  divine  word.J 

*He  created  Angels  in  heaven,  little  worms  on  earth;  nor  was  Ee  greater  in 
those,  nor  less  in  these.  (St.  Aug.) 

f  Gen.,  c.  1.  Seized  with  astonishment  at  what  they  saw,  at  each  thing  made 
they  applauded  the  Maker  with  joyous  acclamations.  (St.  Basil  of  Seleucia.) 

JGen.,  c.  1.,  v.  31. 


182 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


Passing  through  His  hands  after  creation,  matter  with¬ 
out  form  received  from  God  regularity,  beauty,  harmony. 

The  universe,  brilliant,  full  of  life,  full  of  grace,  has 
just  received  its  crowning  honor.  It  is  complete,  perfect. 
Behold  it  beginning  to  poise  itself  in  space  before  the 
throne  of  Divine 
gold.* 

To  us  belongs  the  honor  of  keeping  in  that  censer  the 
fire  of  our  ardor,  casting  into  it  the  incense  of  our  praise, 
to  give  it  the  movement  of  our  hearts,  to  accompany  its 
oscillations  with  the  beautiful  words  the  Church  will  use 
one  day: 

“  Glory  be  to  the  Father,  to  the  Son,  and  the  Holy 
Ghost.” 

These  first  outbursts  of  admiration  and  of  îove,  at  the 
successive  apparition  of  the  masterpieces  of  the  universe, 
were  our  song  of  the  morn. 

It  is  sometimes  given  to  men  who  do  not  know  the 
truth,  to  have  a  presentiment  of  it. 

After  having  put  the  last  touch  to  this  work,  a  philoso¬ 
pher  tells  us,  the  Divine  Architect  seeing  a  prophet  in 
admiration,  asked  of  him  if,  in  his  opinion,  some  new 
creation  was  wanting  to  render  it  perfect. 

“No,”  replied  the  prophet,  “I  see  nothing  wanting; 
all  in  the  universe  seems  to  me  complete  and  perfect. 

“  But  I  would,  as  I  look  upon  the  work,  wish  to  have 
now  a  spectator  with  a  mission  to  tell  of  it.  To  simply 
recount  its  wonders  would  be  the  most  beautiful  and  har¬ 
monious  music  in  praise  of  the  Author.” 


Majesty,  like  an  immense  censer  of 


*  The  Angels  were  stupefied  at  the  very  sight  when  they  beheld  the  multitude, 
beauty,  order,  utility,  variety,  ornament,  splendor,  agreement,  and  all  other 
things  which  they  see  better  than  we.  (St.  J.  Chrysostom.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  183 

Pleased  with  the  answer,  God  created  forthwith  the 
harmonious  and  musical  race  of  sacred  poets. 

In  recognizing  the  necessity  of  a  spectator  charged 
with  celebrating  the  divine  work,  the  philosopher  gave 
proof  of  intelligence  ;  hut  in  supposing  that  to  send  a 
spectator  God  had  awaited  the  advice  of  one  of  His 
prophets,  he  erred. 

From  the  beginning,  coëval  with  His  work,  God  created 
musicians  and  singers  charged  to  celebrate  its  grandeur. 
Are  not  the  Angels  a  race  by  excellence,  harmonious  and 
musical  ?* 


*  Philo,  De  PJautatione  Noë. 


184 


IL 

FULL  KNOWLEDGE. 

His  work  terminated,  the  Lord  enters  upon  a  mysteri¬ 
ous  repose,  and  gives  us  the  example  of  contemplation. 

By  leading  man,  in  our  turn,  to  the  contemplation  of 
the  universe,  we  shall  teach  him  to  discover  the  traces  of 
the  hand  of  God,  and  to  rise  from  the  work  to  the  Au¬ 
thor  of  it.* 

Everything  in  this  mysterious  universe  is  known  to 
us,  everything  there  is  for  us  the  subject  of  inexhausti¬ 
ble  admiration. 

Our  ear3  are  open  to  millions  of  voices  of  earth  and 
of  heaven,  and  the  least  murmur  is  as  clearly  perceptible 
as  the  loudest  sound. 

Nothing  intercepts  the  interior  rays  of  supernatural 
light  that  illume  us.  In  this  light  the  world  appears  to 
us  as  an  atom,  and  an  atom  as  a  world. 

The  universe  offers  us  two  abysses  equally  mysterious  : 
an  abyss  of  grandeur  and  an  abyss  of  littleness. f 

What  an  abyss  of  grandeur  in  the  reunion  '  of  these 
spheres  sown  in  the  bosom  of  space  ! 

The  sun  is  the  centre  of  a  system  which  undergoes  his 
influence  and  obeys  him.  Beyond  the  solar  system,  a 

*Man  is  aided  by  the  Angel  that  he  may  more  perfectly  arrive  at  thp  knowl¬ 
edge  of  God  through  creatures.  (St.  Thomas,  ],  q.  Ill,  art.  1.) 

fThe  super-celestial  spirit,  by  the  nearness  of  his  nature  alone  and  by  its  vi¬ 
vacity,  is  able  to  seize  the  greatest  truths,  and  penetrate  the  most  secret.  (St. 
Bernard,  Serm.  3,  on  the  Canticles.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


185 


subject  of  interminable  study,  the  eye  of  the  man  of 
science  perceives  luminous  points  at  such  a  distance  that 
it  would  be  tempted  to  take  them  for  brilliant  dust.  Each 
of  these  points  is  the  centre  of  another  system  like  to 
the  first,  or  vaster  still. 

Let  man  take  the  most  powerful  instruments  of  his  in¬ 
vention  ;  let  him  augment  the  range  of  sight  ten-fold,  an 
hundred-fold,  a  million  times.  Beyond  this  luminous 
veil,  he  will  see  spring  forth  points  not  less  luminous, 
with  nothing  that  reveals  a  common  centre. 

And  all  this  but  feeble  dust,  a  light  atom,  compared 
with  what  is  beyond,  with  what  he  will  never  see.  The 
look  of  man  scarce  reaches  the  border  of  this  immense 
and  unfathomable  ocean.  Inaccessible  to  him  will  ever 
be 

The  deserts  of  space  and  the  measureless  plain, 

Where  worlds  on  worlds  are  heaped  again. 

Overwhelmed  by  so  much  grandeur,  let  him  turn  to  the 
opposite  part  of  creation  ;  let  his  eye  penetrate  into  this 
abyss  of  littleness  :  his  admiration  will  not  be  less  great, 
nor  his  insufficiency  less  evidenced. 

The  three  kingdoms  of  nature  open  to  him  a  way  with¬ 
out  limit  in  the  gradual  descent  to  what  he  calls  the  in¬ 
finitely  small. 

A  particle  of  gold,  extended  by  his  art  into  a  long 
thread,  permits  him  to  calculate  that  it  is  divisible  into  an 
infinity  of  yet  smaller  particles. 

The  perfume  of  a  flower,  carried  incessantly  by  the 
wind  and  always  persisting,  announces  the  incalculable 
number  of  molecules  that  come  from  its  calyx. 

Animalcules  living  in  a  drop  of  water  are  counted  by 
milliards  ;  and  at  the  farthest  point  of  littleness  which  it 


186 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


can  reach,  the  science  of  man  yet  sees  through  it  a  new 
world  of  animated  beings  smaller  and  smaller,  reproduc¬ 
ing  and  propagating  themselves. 

Where  will  this  descending  progress  stop  ?  What  may 
be,  after  this  view  and  these  data,  the  total  number  of 
beings  organized  or  not  in  the  universe  ? 

Above  as  below,  in  the  star  as  in  the  atom,  in  the  re¬ 
lations  of  the  infinitely  small  to  the  infinitely  great,  in 
the  secret  bonds  that  unite  material  beings  and  constitute 
them' in  one  only  and  harmonious  unity,  abyss,  abyss  un¬ 
fathomable  for  man. 

Now  this  double  abyss  is  clear  to  us.  Our  intelligence 
grasps  equally  the  depth  and  sees  the  limits.  Our  look 
dominates  the  assemblage  of  worlds,  and  takes  in  the 
least  detail.  It  ranges  from  one  globe  to  another,  and 
goes  down  into  the  very  heart  of  nature  to  lay  hold  of 
the  most  hidden  laws.  , 

We  know  the  essence,  the  qualities,  the  affinities,  all 
the  properties  of  matter.  We  follow  its  perpetual  move¬ 
ment  and  continual  transformations.  We  know  what 
under  our  hands  will  be  produced  by  contact,  by  separa¬ 
tion,  by  combination  of  particles  the  most  attenuated  ; 
what  wonders  of  force,  of  velocity,  of  color,  of  perfume, 
of  harmony,  of  form,  we  can  obtain  of  the  most  subtle 
elements.  In  us  is  constantly  fulfilled  the  desire  which 
man  is  ever  impotent  to  attain  to:  we  know  the  causes.* 

In  a  word,  nothing  escapes  us  ;  our  view  embraces  all 
the  scale  of  creation,  and  we  can  enjoy  all  the  perfection 
of  the  divine  work. 

I  low  much  power  the  little  man  knows  has  in  detach¬ 
ing  him  from  the  earth  and  in  calling  him  to  higher  as- 


*  Happy  who  the  causes  of  things  could  know.  (Virgil,  Georg.  1,  2,  v.  4‘JO.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


187 


pirations  !  That  soul  had  felt  the  influence  of  these  in¬ 
comparable  beauties,  who  in  the  midst  of  paganism  cried 
out: 

“While  I  consider  all  these  stars  with  their  distances, 
their  dimensions,  their  brilliancy,  and  I  strive  to  rise  to 
their  grandeur  by  thought,  and  take  part  in  their  mag¬ 
nificent  play;  while  my  eyes  insatiable  gazing  on  this 
spectacle,  remain  there  by  day,  and  go  thither  by  night; 
while  I  am  beside  myself  with  sucli  delight,  of  what  im¬ 
port  to  me  what  I  trample  under  foot?”* 

i 

*  What  is  it  to  me  what  I  trample  under  foot?  (Seneca,  Consolations,  to  Al¬ 
binos,  c.  9.) 


f 


188 


MÈMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


v 


THE  UNIVERSAL  MOTORS. 

At  the  time  God  made  us  assist  at  the  formation  of 
the  universe,  He  entrusted  to  us  its  guidance  and  gov¬ 
ernment.* 

Applying  to  material  things  the  vigor  of  our  will,  we 
regulate  the  force  which  they  received  from  the  Creator. 
We,  by  this,  produce  those  movements,  sometimes  gran¬ 
diose,  sometimes  imperceptible,  always  harmonious,  the 
fixed  rules  of  which  repose  in  the  divine  will.f 

Movements  of  solar  worlds,  that  go  on  separating,  ap¬ 
proaching,  balancing,  describing  delicate  curves,  immense, 
which  are  made  on  the  very  limits  of  creation  and  border 
on  the  infinite. 

Movements  of  atoms  that  play  in  the  ray  of  the  sun 
or  in  a  drop  of  water,  and  which  are  not  less  varied  nor 
less  harmonious. 

All  these  movements  united  form  the  life  wTe  give  the 
whole. 

*  When  God  laid  the  first  foundation  of  this  beautiful  mass,  that  all  might  go 
on  under  guides  of  His,  He  begat  ministers  of  His  kingdom,  although  He  Him¬ 
self  oversaw  the  whole.  (Seneca,  in  Lactantius,  1. 1,  c.  4.) 

f  All  things  corporeal  are  ruled  by  Angels  ;  and  this  is  not  only  laid  down  by 
holy  Doctors,  but  also  by  all  philosophers,  who  declare  that  incorporeal  sub¬ 
stances  exist.  (St.  Thomas,  1,  q.  110,  Art.  1.)  The  Fathers  of  the  Church  are 
unanimous,  as  St.  Thomas  says,  in  teaching  that  God  governs  the  world,  even 
the  material  world,  by  the  ministry  of  Angels.  St.  Justin,  Athenagoras,  Theo- 
doretus,  Clement  of  Alexandria,  St.  Gregory  Nazianzen,  Origen,  Eusebius  of 
Cesarea,  St.  Jerome,  St.  Augustin,  St.  Hilary,  St.  Ambrose,  St.  J.  Chrysostom,  St. 
Cyril,  St.  Gregory  the  Great,  use  identical  language  on  this  point.  (Theologia 
Claromentensis,  on  the  Angels ,  c.  4,  art.  4.) 


189 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

VN  ,  f 

The  great  and  beautiful  laws  human  genius  has  grasped 
without  being  able  to  give  the  name  of  the  immediate 
executor,  are  the  divine  will  done  by  angelic  wills. 

They  form  the  programme  traced  us  for  the  mainte¬ 
nance  of  universal  order.*  Attractions,  repulsions,  in¬ 
finite  movements,  order  always,  order  everywhere  :  this 
is  what  we  know  how  to  draw  from  the  properties  of 
bodies;  this  is  our  work.f 

Principle  unique,  synthesis  of  a  wonderful  simplicity  : 
as  many  inaccessible  secrets,  the  knowledge  of  which  is 
reserved  to  us. 

From  the  low  region  of  the  little  world  he  inhabits, 
man  seizes  but  in  part  our  action,  and  never  can  raise 
himself  to  the  level  of  the  whole. 

We  applaud  his  efforts,  and  rejoice  in  his  discoveries. 

In  the  learned  and  pious  solitude  he  had  made  for 
himself,  we  stood  around  that  genius  as  great  as  modest, 
that  humble  priest  of  Jesus  Christ,  who  was  the  first  to 
recognize  the  movement  of  the  earth  and  of  all  the  planets 
around  the  sun.J 

We  were  present  and  attentive  when  another  genius 
succeeded  in  formulating  the  laws  of  this  movement.  We 

*  The  Angels  are  the  rulers  of  this  world,  presiding  over  the  elements,  moving 
the  heavens,  and  the  ministers  of  Divine  Providence  with  regard  to  bodies, 
both  celestial  and  elementary.  (Vivien,  Angel.) 

f  “  Cohesive  force,  force  of  affinity,  force  of  attraction:  but  what  is  a  force  ? 
We  know  nothing  about  that.”  (Arago,  Lessons  at  the  Observatory.)  None  of 
the  great  geniuses  of  whom  science  is  proud,  has  pretended  that  force,  the 
cause  of  universal  movement,  is  a  property  of  the  bodies  themselves,  and  can¬ 
not  be  attributed  to  a  principle  which  is  immaterial.  Between  the  beautiful 
thesis  of  the  holy  Doctors,  and  the  data  of  science,  no  incompatibility  could  be 
found.  “  It  remains  therefore  that  the  motion  of  the  stars  is  voluntary.  Who¬ 
soever  sees  them,  should  he  deny  there  are  gods,  not  only  would  he  speak  tin- 
learnedly  but  impiously.”  (Cicero,  on  the  Nature  of  the  Gods.) 

J  Copernicus. 


190 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


saw  him  fall  on  his  knees,  thank  God,  and  admire  the 
patience  the  Sovereign  Author  had  had  in  waiting  six 
thousand  years  to  find  among  men  a  contemplator  of  His 
works.*  Among  the  Angels  God  had  had  from  the  be¬ 
ginning  innumerable  contemplators. 

At  last  we  saw  appear  him  who  was  to  discover  the 
generating  principle  of  these  laws  of  the  universe. 
Greater  than  all  those  who  had  precfeded  him,  he  was  not 
to  be  less  modest.  We  gathered  the  words  that  escaped 
from  his  soul,  at  the  moment  he  gave  to  his  contempor¬ 
aries  and  to  history  his  beautiful  discoveries: 

“  I  know  not  what  the  world  will  think  of  my  labors  ; 
for  myself,  it  seems  to  me  I  have  only  been  a  child  play¬ 
ing  on  the  border  of  the  sea,  finding  now  a  pebble  more 
polished,  and  now  a  shell  more  pleasingly  variegated, 
while  the  ocean  of  truth  spread  itself  before  me  unex¬ 
plored.”  f  ' 

By  these  movements,  so  varied  in  their  grandeur,  their 
direction,  their  form,  their  rapidity,  we  measure  time. 

The  movements,  in  fact,  are  not  a  simple  and  monoto¬ 
nous  repetition  of  the  same  effects  by  the  same  cause. 
The  years,  the  hours,  the  least  instants,  bring  their  mod¬ 
ifications. 

Among  the  inferior  globes,  some  accomplish  their  revo¬ 
lutions  in  some  months,  others  in  some  years  ;  but  domi¬ 
nated  and  carried  forward  by  more  powerful  globes,  they 
take  part  in  movements  of  vaster  proportion  and  of  longer 
duration. 

The  sun  with  the  planets  of  his  sphere  of  activity, 
moves  around  another  sun,  which  is  coordinated  to  a  still 

*  Kepler, 
f  Newton. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


191 


higher  sun,  and  so  on  to  a  fixed  centre  known  only  to 
us.*  The  combination  is  universal,  the  mechanism  of 
perfect  unity. 

When  the  system  of  worlds  will  have  completed  the 
first  time  its  career,  when  each  world  will  have  been 
brought  back  to  its  point  of  departure,  then  only  will  the 
great  year,  the  absolute  year,  close. 

Order,  immense  and  perfect,  produced  by  us  in  execu¬ 
tion  of  the  divine  behests! 

Vast  field  open  to  our  zeal,  having  no  limits  but  those 
of  creation,  extending  from  the  gates  of  heaven  to  the 
threshold  of  hell  ! 

Our  action  is  always  so  in  keeping  with  the  nature, 
the  dimensions,  the  situation  of  each  planet,  that  it  seems 
to  come  from  the  planet  itself. 

Human  reason,  deprived  of  the  aid  of  faith,  seized 
upon  these  movements  one  day,  contemplated  them,  was 
by  them  carried  away.  It  recognized  an  order  of  which 
it  could  not  give  the  credit  to  blind  matter,  and  cried  out  : 
“Yes,  the  movement  of  the  stars  is  a  movement  that 
comes  from  a  will!  ”f  This  movement,  in  fact,  is  volun¬ 
tary,  and  doubly  so,  for  it  proceeds  from  the  will  of  God 
who  ordains,  and  from  the  will  of  the  Angels  that  exe¬ 
cute. 

One  day  that  same  reason  had  an  illumination  more 
lively  still.  Transported  all  at  once  to  the  midst  of  the 
firmament,  it  is  overcome  by  the  magnificence  that  sur- 

*  The  sun  is  only  an  imperceptible  planet  in  relation  with  another  sun  around 
which  it  revolves,  and  this  other  sun  is  without  doubt  itself  carried  into  space, 
without  our  being  able  to  assign  a  fixed  centre  around  which  all  these  revolu¬ 
tions  are  accomplished.  (Pouillet,  Experimental  Physics  and  Meteorology .) 

f  It  remains  that  the  motion  of  the  stars  depends  on  a  will.  (Cicero,  on  the 
Nature  of  the  Gods.) 


192 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


rounds  it,  by  the  harmony  of  a  force  and  of  a  gentleness 
that  are  incomparable.  It  recognizes  the  celestial  music 
of  the  spheres  in  their  various  movements.  It  distin¬ 
guishes  the  sharp  sounds  of  those  that  have  a  more  rapid 
movement  from  the  low  notes  of  those  the  movement 
of  which  is  more  slow. 

Men  who  have  imitated  these  sounds  by  their  instru¬ 
ments,  or  by  voice,  and  have  sung  the  glories  of  the  Cre¬ 
ator,  have  opened  to  themselves  those  brilliant  heights. 

But  the  common  race  of  mortals,  of  ear  dulled  by  in¬ 
ferior  sounds,  seizes  neither  the  grandiose  harmony  of 
the  spheres,  nor  the  ravishing  music  of  atoms.* 

Beautiful  picture,  honoring  the  intelligence  that  gave 
birth  to  it,  but  in  which  faith  will  see  realities  more  beau¬ 
tiful  still. 


*  While  I  was  gazing  stupefied  on  these  things,  as  soon  as  I  came  to  myself,  I 
said:  “  What  is  this?  What  is  the  great  and  sweet  resonance  which  fills  my 
ears?”  It  is,  said  he,  that  which,  made  up  of  unequal  intervals,  yet  distinct 
in  due  proportion,  is  caused  by  the  impulse  and  movement  of  the  orbs;  which 
tempering  the  acute  with  the  grave  in  an  equable  manner  produces  varied  con¬ 
cert:  for  movement  could  not  be  brought  about  with  so  great  silence.  By  imi¬ 
tating  this  with  strings  and  song,  learned  men  have  opened  to  themselves  a 
return  to  this  place:  just  as  others,  who  with  excellent  talent  have  cultivated 
during  life  divine  studies.  (Cicero,  The  Republic,  1.  6,  c.  11.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH, 


193 


IV. 

THE  LIFE  OF  THE  EARTH. 

*  r 

By  directing  the  stars  in  their  respective  paths  traced 
out  to  them,  we  bring  on  the  seasons,  each  in  its  time. 
We  distribute  freshness  to  spring,  heat  to  summer,  its 
treasures  to  autumn,  its  frosts  to  winter. 

Air,  water,  fire,  earth,  fluids,  all  the  elements,  are  in 
our  hands,  docile  agents  with  which  we  produce  wonder¬ 
ful  effects.  We  prepare  tempests  and  storms  in  the  air. 
We  direct  their  travel,  measure  their  violence,  chain  their 
fury,  cause  serenity  to  follow  mists.  We  command  the 
winds  to  blow,  the  streams  to  course,  the  dew  to  cool  the 
surface  of  the  earth. 

We  preside  over  the  blooming  of  flowers,  the  growth 
of  trees,  the  germinating  of  grain.  In  each  blade  we  lay 
the  manna,  and  in  the  fields,  as  in  the  desert,  men  gather 
the  bread  of  heaven.  The  fruits,  the  meadows,  the  di¬ 
verse  plants  that  nourish  living  beings,  are  the  work  of 
our  hands. 

We  maintain  the  life  of  animals  everywhere  it  pleased 
God  to  create  them,  in  the  depths  of  the  sea  and  in  the 
drop  of  dew,  in  the  thick  forest  and  upon  the  leaf  of  the 
bush,  in  the  seclusion  of  the  valley  and  on  the  mountain 
top. 

We  give  the  bird  its  ornament,  its  voice,  its  gayety; 
the  insect  its  movements,  its  lively  colors,  its  destiny  ; 


194  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

the  lamb  its  fleece,  the  ox  its  strength,  the  horse  its  swift¬ 
ness.* 

Whatever  diffuses  and  preserves  on  earth  order,  beauty, 
movement,  comes  from  our  continual  action  under  the  con¬ 
tinued  will  of  God. 

We  are  the  foster-soul  of  this  globe,  the  interior  spirit 
that  moves  it,  the  breath  that  gives  it  life. 

This  human  wisdom  has  felt  beforehand  without  un¬ 
derstanding  it.  Powerless  to  explain  the  universal  effect 
which  struck  it,  it  imagined  a  vast  soul  united  to  the  mass 
of  globes,  moving  them,  illuminating  them,  preserving  in 
them  their  life.f 

It  is  the  distorted  remembrance  of  our  ministry  that  is 
found  in  the  multitude  of  subordinate  divinities  with 
which  paganism  peopled  the  universe. 

In  fact,  did  not  the  pagans  believe  that,  among  these 
divinities,  some  presided  over  seasons,  over  months,  over 
days;  others  over  forests,  over  fields,  over  fountains, 
over  rivers,  over  the  sea  ;  others  again  over  flowers,  over 
trees,  over  harvests,  over  flocks  ? 

When  truth  disappeared,  error  that  succeeded  it  still 
preserved  some  glimmer  of  it. 

We  represent  in  our  ministry,  as  far  as  simple  creatures 
can,  the  fertility  and  the  munificence  of  God.  By  us  is 
wrought  the  conservation  of  life  and  its  transmission 
through  the  vicissitudes  of  time. 

God  governs  according  to  His  will.  Nothing  is  ac- 
complished  in  the  universe  without  an  order  that  has 
emanated  from  the  court  of  the  invisible  King  of  ages. 

*  Angels  do  not  move  the  heavens  to  preserve  them,  but  on  account  of  the 
perpetuity  of  things  capable  of  being  generated  by  continual  succession  of 
generation.  (Suarez,  1.  6,  c.  19,  n.  ID.) 
f  Virgil,  {The  Eneid,  1.  6,  vv.  724-732.) 


t 


I 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  195 

But  when  the  will  of  God  decides,  it  is  our  will  that 
carries  out  the  decision. 

We  are  the  feet,  the  hands,  the  eyes,  the  intelligence, 
the  heart  of  God  externally.  In  the  physical  world,  as 
in  the  moral,  we  are  His  Providence.  To  honor  us,  He 
willed  to  unite  us  with  Himself,  make  us  take  part  in  His 
continual  action  upon  the  earth.* 

It  is  for  us  a  matter  of  indifference  whether  we  govern 
such  a  class  of  beings,  or  produce  such  a  movement,  or 
execute  such  an  operation.  The  beauty  of  each  part  is 
not  in  the  brilliancy  that  attaches  to  it,  but  in  the  perfec 
tion  with  which  it  is  carried  out.  To  share  the  divine 
sovereignty  and  munificence  is  alwa}7s  great  and  glorious. 

The  universal  movement  of  spirits  and  of  bodies  comes 
then  from  the  same  impulse,  and,  under  our  immediate 
action,  forms  one  cadence,  one  harmony. 

How  transporting,  in  the  bosom  of  the  Infinite,  this 
sacred  dance  of  atoms  and  of  worlds,  led  by  pure  spirits, 
under  the  high  direction  of  the  one  Chief,  who  is  God  !  f 

*  If  perchance  we  wish  to  understand  the  Angels  to  he  the  eyes,  the  ears,  or 
the  hands,  or  the  feet  of  God,  we  have  the  authority  of  probability.  (St.  Hilary, 
on  Ps.  129.) 

f  The  spiritual  o-der  in  concert  with  the  material  leads  the  dance;  the  pre¬ 
centor  of  the  heavenly,  and  at  the  same  time  of  the  terrestrial,  rules  all  to-day 
in  the  same  house,  (at.  Theodore  the  Studite,  on  the  Celestial  Choirs.) 


196 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


Y. 

THE  CONCERT  OE  DAY. 

The  Angels  know  the  special  end  of  each  creature  and 
the  glory  it  should  give  the  Creator. 

Able  interpreters  of  nature,  they  know  the  meaning 
of  every  movement,  of  every  sound,  of  every  object.  In 
them  everything  is  knowledge,  and  all  knowledge  in  them 

is  blessed  of  God. 

!  / 

They  read  in  letters  of  fire  in  the  azure  vault  the 
divine  magnificence.  The  instrument  that  is  to  celebrate 
it  does  not  remain  silent;  the  key -board  has  found  intel¬ 
ligent  hands  to  give  it  life.* 

Admiring  the  wonders  without  number  in  creation,  we 
give  glory  to  God  for  each  one  of  them  ;  we  lend  to  each 
creature  our  intelligence,  our  will,  our  heart,  to  know, 
love,  and  bless  their  Author. 

’Tis  thus  the  whole  material  universe  becomes  an  har¬ 
monious  instrument,  full  of  energy  and  of  life,  whence  is 
breathed  forth  a  hymn  worthy  of  God.f 

Before  evil  appeared  in  the  world,  when  everything 
there  shone  with  innocence,  each  touch  of  the  great  key¬ 
board  gave  the  purest  note  :  the  instrument  of  a  thou- 

*  The  beauty  of  the  universe,  as  if  a  great  poem  of  an  ineffable  singer.  (St 
Augustin,  Epist.  to  Marcellinus,  138.)  , 

f  Thy  whole  creation  ceases  not  nor  fails  to  praise  Thee;  nor  the  spirit  ot 
every  man,  his  face  turned  to  Thee,  nor  animals  nor  things  corporal  by  th-i 
mouth  of  those  that  consider  them.  (St.  Aug.,  Confess  ,  1.  5,  c.  2.)  What  is  the 
world?  ’Tis  a  lyre  giving  forth  the  sweet  concert  of  Divine  Providence.  (St. 
Athanasius,  Against  Idols.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  1Q7 

sand  voices  resounded  in  perfect  accord  with  the  views 
of  the  Creator. 

The  voice  was  distinctly  heard  and  understood  by  in¬ 
telligent  creatures,*  which  rose  from  all  sides,  and  ceased 
not  repeating: 

“  Love  !  love  Him  who  drew  us  forth  from  nothing.  It 
is  for  you  He  created  us  and  made  us  beautiful.” 

At  this  invitation  all  the  creatures  of  intelligence  re¬ 
plied  by  an  invitation  not  less  pressing,  not  less  loving. 
They  sang: 

“  Praise,  0  flowers,  Him  who  gave  you  your  pleasing 
tints,  your  delightful  perfumes. 

“  Praise,  ye  little  birds,  Him  who  wove  your  silken 
robes,  decked  you  in  brilliant  colors,  and  taught  you  your 
gay  songs. 

“Praise,  ye  fish,  Him  who  gave  fecundity  to  the  nour¬ 
ishing  waters,  made  for  you  invisible  retreats  in  their 
bosom,  made  the  waves  your  country,  and  clad  you  in 
your  scales  of  gold. 

“Mysterious  harps  of  the  forests,  praise  Him  who 
sends  the  breeze  to  caress  the  foliage  and  draw  from  it  a 
plaintive  sigh.  ^ 

“Praise,  ye  fertilizing  clouds,  Him  who  sent  you, 
lakes  of  the  air,  to  freshen  the  fields  of  the  atmosphere, 
and  to  spread  yourselves  in  beneficent  rain  over  the  earth. 

“  Praise,  ye  living  fountains,  graceful  brooks,  beauti¬ 
ful  streams,  vast  rivers,  Him  who  bade  you  flow,  and  to 
repeat,  as  you  go,  His  adorable  name. 

“  Praise,  ye  deep  oceans,  Him  who  made  you  after 
His  image,  established  in  your  bosom  immutable  tran¬ 
quillity  ;  gave  you  wrath  and  smiles  equally  majestic. 


*  Wisdom,  c.  1,  v.  7.. 


198 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


“Praise,  ye  mountains,  ye  hills,  ye  slopes,  Him  who 
raised  you  up,  rounded  you,  left  upon  you  the  impress 
of  His  hand. 

“  Praise,  0  earth,  0  sea,  0  beautiful  vault  of  heaven, 
Him  who  crowned  you  with  His  wonders,  and  filled  you 
with  magnificence. 

“Tell  again,  0  burning  sun,  the  ardor  of  our  love; 
tell,  0  limpid  azure,  the  purity  of  our  hearts  ;  tell,  0 
peaceful  stars,  our  adoration;  tell,  brilliant  day,  His 
brightness;  speak  to  us,  silent  night,  of  His  majesty; 
graceful  cloud,  be  the  incense  of  our  prayers;  happy 
earth,  be  His  footstool  and  the  support  of  His  throne.” 

Everything  loves,  everything  chants,  everything  adores. 
Man  and  angel  are  united  to  be  the  soul  and  the  life  of 
the  material  world,  and  to  make  all  creatures  take  part 
in  the  universal  concert.  By  different  ways,  all  our  ex¬ 
terior  functions  lead,  as  do  our  interior  sentiments,  to 
praise  and  song.* 

The  ear  of  the  great  old  man  of  Patmos  was  opened 
one  day  to  the  concert  which  filled  two  worlds,  and  he 
cried  : 

“  I  have  heard  the  creatures  who  are  in  heaven,  on 
earth,  and  under  the  earth,  and  those  in  the  sea;  I  have 
heard  them  all  saying  :  6  Benediction  and  honor  and  glory 
and  power  to  Him  who  sitteth  on  the  throne,  and  to  the 
Lamb,  for  ever  and  ever.’”f 

And  during  the  canticle  of  the  day,  as  during  that  of 
the  night,  God  said:  “  All  is  well,  perfectly  good.”  \ 

And  the  angels,  applauding,  replied  :  “All  is  well,  per¬ 
fectly  good.” 


*  Given  to  divine  praise.  (St.  Bernard,  on  Consideration ,  1.  5,  c.  4.) 
f  Apoc.,  c,  5,  v.  13. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


199 


YI. 

PROFANATION. 

Discordant  notes  were  soon  to  be  heard  in  the  great 
concert,  and  interfere  with  its  harmony. 

Material  nature  has  been  carried  down  in  the  fall  of 
man.  It  loses  the  docility  it  had  under  our  hands  ;  it 
gives  out  false  sounds.  Without  harmony  among  them¬ 
selves,  creatures  no  longer  unite  in  the  praise  of  the 
Creator. 

The  world  of  matter  withdraws  itself  little  by  little 
from  our  action,  to  give  itself  over  to  that  of  the  demons 
and  of  wicked  men.  Good  disappears;  evil  invades  all. 

Not  being  able  to  fight  against  God  directly,  Satan 
takes  indirect  ways  :  he  addresses  himself  to  creatures, 
and  seeks  to  put  them  in  a  state  of  revolt  against  their 
Author.* 

The  evil  spirits  penetrate  matter,  and  make  their  abode 
there.  They  make  use  of  creatures^  as  instruments  to 
exercise  their  impiety  and  malice. 

All  matter  was  to  form  part  of  the  religion  of  intelli¬ 
gent  beings.  Man,  in  his  worship  and  festivals,  was  to 
sanctify  the  dust  under  the  most  graceful  and  elevated 
forms.  Art  and  science  were  to  emulate  each  other  in 
giving  glory  to  the  Creator.  Men  and  Angels  were  to 

*  Since  he  cannot  wage  war  against  God,  he  adopts  another  mode  of  fighting 
when  he  incites  the  creature  to  rebeliion  against  the  Creator.  (Origen,  on  Jere- 
mias,  Horn.  11.) 


200 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


animate  everything  with  the  breath  of  piety,  and  direct 
everything  to  its  noble  end. 

Evil  spirits  and  wicked  men  have  turned  everything 
from  its  first  and  natural  end.  Men  dig  the  earth,  ques¬ 
tion  the  stars,  analyze  the  elements,  to  tear  from  them 
some  testimony  against  their  Author.  In  their  studied 
works,  they  call  together  the  sciences  to  impose  upon 
them  the  cynical  language  of  violated  reason — the  crime 
of  impious  science,  the  crime  of  intelligence,  repelling, 
as  did  Lucifer’s,  mercy  and  pity. 

Banished  faith  is  soon  replaced  and  avenged  by  super¬ 
stition.  Wood,  stone,  gold,  the  rich  metals,  are  devoted 
to  the  worship  of  idols.  They  serve  only  to  extend  and 
strengthen  the  power  of  demons.* 

Air,  water,  earth,  have  become  peopled  with  deceiving 
phantoms.  They  are  infested  with  the  workings  of 
magic,  profaned  with  impious  sacrifices.  The  imagina¬ 
tion  of  man,  yielding  to  malignant  influences,  has  dishon¬ 
ored  even  the  most  brilliant  of  God’s  creatures.  It  has 
placed  impure  divinities  not  only  in  every  part  of  the 
earth,  but  also  in  the  sun,  the  stars,  the  planets,  in  all 
the  extent  of  the  firmament.  Heaven  itself  has  been 
soiled  by  ignoble  passions.  The  passions  have  made  of 
heaven  repulsive  mire.f 

All  creatures,  turned  thus  away  from  their  end,  groan 
at  being  the  slaves  of  man’s  vanity,  at  seconding  the 
malice  of  evil  spirits,  at  directing  against  the  Creator  a 
power  received  to  give  Him  glory.  There  is  no  star,  no 

*  And  what  is  for  them  a  surer  pasture  than  to  avert  man  from  thinking  of 
the  true  Divinity  by  the  marvels  of  false  divination.  (Tertulli^n,  Apologia,  22.) 

fYou  have  made  heaven  a  bog.  (Ibid.) 


\ 


\ 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH.  201 

atom,  that  does  not  protest,  and  complain  of  it  to  the 
Sovereign  Master.* 

That  resounding  and  all  heavenly  harp  we  see  given 
over  to  the  talons  of  black  demons.  We  hear  it  vibrate 
to  the  breath  of  criminal  passions,  give  forth  sounds  of 
pride,  of  impiety,  of  injustice,  of  cruelty,  of  vengeance, 
of  lust,  of  every  evil.  The  instrument  of  life  has  be¬ 
come  the  instrument  of  death.  The  work  lives  and 
speaks,  to  pour  out  upon  its  Maker  insult  and  outrage. 

Every  crime  stains  the  spot  where  it  was  committed. 
The  universe  soon  appears  to  us  as  a  tainted  work..  We 
see  crime  multiply  itself  on  its  face,  and  from  all  sides 
we  hear  ascend  plaintive  cries.  There  is  groaning,  deep, 
universal,  immense  ;  the  groaning  of  servitude  and  of  the 
slavery  that  inanimate  nature  gives  forth. f 

As  a  delicate  artist  whose  cherished  instrument  has 
been  treated  with  violence  by  barbarous  hands,  each  of 
us  is  indignant.  May  the  hour  of  freedom  come,  and 
through  us  will  nature  be  avenged  ! 

Our  fingers  rarely  now  touch  matter  to  bend  its  laws 
to  favor  man.  From  outraging  God,  it  passes  easily  to 
the  punishment  of  the  guilty.  On  every  side  appears 

*  A  thing  calls  out  for  its  owner.  The  earth  can  justly  say  to  us:  I  ought  not 
to  hear  you,  but  rather  swallow  you  up,  since  you  have  not  been  afraid  to  aban¬ 
don  the  C  reator  by  sinning,  and  adhere  to  His  enemy,  the  devil,  and  serve  him. 
Food  and  drink  could  say:  You  do  not  deserve  nourishment  from  us,  nay, 
rather  that  we  prepare  for  you  derangement  and  death  :  for  you  have  receded 
by  sin  from  Him,  through  whom  not  even  the  bird  is  in  want.  The  sun,  too  : 
I  ought  not  to  shine  for  your  good,  but  to  avenge  my  Lord,  who  is  the  light 
of  light,  the  source  of  brightness.  Thus  also  every  creature,  with  unassailable 
reason,  can  rise  up  against  us.  (St.  Anselm, 'Similitudes,  c.  101.) 

t Rom.  c.  8,  v.  22.  A  beautiful  prosopopeia  of  the  Apostle!  All  inanimate 
creatures  anxiously  await  with  great  paiu  the  end  of  evil.  Had  they  sense, 
they  svould  groan  as  in  labor,  and  that  from  the  beginning  of  the  world  and  of 
the  fall  of  man  till  now.  (St.  J.  Chrysostom.) 


202 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


the  visage  of  crime  ;  but  on  every  side  too  is  to  be  seen 
the  scythe  of  justice. 

The  demons  have  closed  heaven,  and  marked  the  earth 
with  roads  leading  to  hell.  In  the  physical  as  in  the 
moral  world,  it  is  their  hour  and  the  power  of  darkness.* 

“Well  then,  world  tainted  and  profaned,  world  that 
dost  profit  only  evil,  and  serve  only  Satan,  cease  to  obey 
pure  hands,  be  no  more  guided  by  angels.  Covered 
with  infamy,  cast  thyself  loose,  through  space  ;  go  and 
be  broken  to  pieces  by  some  one  of  those  suns  the  light 
of  which  thou  dost  unworthily  absorb.  May  thy  dust 
rise  to  the  globe  that  sings  the  goodness  of  the  Creator; 
may  it  call  on  thee  to  change  thy  ways  and  henceforth 
tell  of  His  justice.” 

Thus  would  be  tempted  to  act  and  speak  a  man  of  zeal, 
were  he  a  witness  of  what  we  see.  But  God  and  His 
angels  have  different  thoughts.  The  material  world  will 
not  be  wholly  given  up  to  the  invasion  of  evil.  Better 
days  will  dawn.  Behold  the  era  of  mercy  and  of  repa¬ 
ration. 

*  St.  Luke,  c.  22,  v.  33. 


•  s 


! 

/  . 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


203 


vn. 

THE  DIVINE  BAPTISM. 

Having  become  the  theatre  of  the  great  scenes  of  the 
Redemption,  the  material  world  will  feel  the  effects  of  it. 
It  will  share  in  this  universal  restoration  which  is  to  be 
wrought  in  Christ.  What  nobility  and  glory  will  on  this 
account  be  His  ! 

The  Divine  Word  has  taken  from  this  world  the  grains 
of  dust  of  which  He  wills  to  form  a  body.  He  asked  of 
it  the  food  to  appease  His  hunger,  and  the  clothing  that 
was  to  cover  His  members.  He  breathed  this  air, 
walked  on  this  soil,  saw  by  this  light,  filled  this  echo 
with  His  voice.  He  inhabited  this  world  and  united 
himself  to  it;  He  made  it  Ilis  cradle,  His  home,  His 
tomb,  His  definite  sojourn,  by  the  Blessed  Eucharist. 

This  earth  has  received  His  tears  ;  what  shall  I  say  ? 
it  drank  His  Blood.  A  great  baptism,  in  which  all  its 
stains  will  be  washed  away  !  By  the  sacraments  thou¬ 
sands  of  channels  will  be  opened;  signs,  perceptible  by 
the  senses,  material,  will  produce,  by  divine  power,  grace 
that  elevates  and  transforms  the  soul.  Armed  with  the 
Cross  and  fortified  with  these  treasures,  Holy  Church,  in 
every  part,  will  carry  on  with  us  the  war  against  Satan. 

Water,  exorcised  and  blessed  by  His  hand,  no  longer 
gives  refuge  to  the  malign  spirit;  it  has  received  power 
to  put  him  to  flight  by  a  single  sprinkle.  It  blots  out 
the  stain  of  origin,  and  mingles  with  the  oblation  of  the 


I- 


/ 


204  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

Holy  Sacrifice.  It  purifies,  aliments,  refreshes,  main¬ 
tains  life,  both  spiritual  and  material,  and  thus  restores 
to  its  pristine  destiny. 

The  stalk  of  wheat  and  the  vine,  bread  and  wine,  be¬ 
come  the  honor  of  the  productions  of  the  earth  by  their 
participation  in  the  most  august  of  sacraments,  their 
transubstantiation  into  the  body  and  blood  of  the  God 
Redeemer. 

The  anointing  oil  flows  to  give  strength  to  the  athlete 
at  the  hour  the  great  struggle  begins,  as  at  the  moment 
the  final  combat  takes  place. 

Fire  si  lines  in  brilliant  flames  upon  the  altars,  watches 
in  a  peaceful  lamp  in  the  sanctuary,  changes  the  grain 
of  incense  into  an  odoriferous  cloud,  becomes  every¬ 
where  the  symbol  of  faith,  of  love,  of  fervor,  of  sublime 
generosity. 

The  air,  giving  echo  to  eternity,  is  filled  with  holy 
hymns,  repeats  again  powerful  words,  inspires  the  infer¬ 
nal  regions  with  irresistible  terror. 

The  lying  oracles  are  mute  :  diabolical  possession  be¬ 
comes  rare  ;  superstitions  vanish  ;  the  earth  is  furrowed 
by  pilgrims  going  to  places  near  to  heaven  ;  the  material 
images  of  the  Virgin  and  of  the  Saints  see  wonders  of 
grace  multiplied  before  them. 

Matter,  made  holy,  is  changed  into  temples,  sanctu¬ 
aries,  altars,  pious  images,  sacred  symbols.  It  gives  it¬ 
self  over  to  every  art  to  honor  them  all,  and  by  the  voice 
of  each  one  tell  anew  the  praises  of  God. 

If  there  are  still  places  in  the  world  stained  by  men, 
haunted  by  demons,  there  are  too  places  of  touching 
souvenir,  sanctified  by  the  mysteries  of  the  Incarnate 
Word,  made  illustrious  by  the  immolation  of  the  martyr, 
and  become  sacred  spots  of  pilgrimage  for  the  angels. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


205 


The  Redeemer  in  this  way  banishes  from  creation  the 
gods  of  matter.  Air,  fire,  water,  animals,  stars,  lose 
their  sacrilegious  divinity,  become  again  docile  under  our 
action. 

At  the  instant  this  universal  regeneration  is  accom¬ 
plished,  a  strange  sound  is  heard  in  heaven  and  in  hell: 
it  is  the  quaking  of  the  throne  of  Satan,  in  the  heart  of 
matter  ;  it  is  the  clanking  of  the  chains  with  which  he 
had  bound  the  world,  and  which  are  flying  in  pieces 


i 


206 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


Till. 

THE  CHARIOT  OF  GLORY. 

In  the  immense  fleet  spread  over  the  boundless  and 
fathomless  ocean  of  the  infinite,  among  those  vessels  of 
every  form  and  size,  moved  by  the  same  wind,  there  is 
one  the  angelic  eye  discerns,  detaching  itself  as  a  bril¬ 
liant  point  upon  the  common  ground,  and  bearing  the 
pavilion  of  honor. 

It  is  that  which  carries  the  great  treasures,  where  the 
seat  of  authority  is,  to  which  all  homage  goes,  whence 
come  forth  the  orders,  which  the  movements  obey,  the 
centre  of  all  this  harmonious  unity. 

It  is  the  earth,  adorned  with  the  standard  of  the  cross, 
bearing  the  treasures  of  the  B.  Eucharist,  brilliant  with 
the  merits  of  the  Redemption,  the  centre  of  life,  the  rea¬ 
son  of  the  material  world. 

Among  these  suns  arid  these  worlds,  poised  in  space, 
these  burning  and  brilliant  spheres  that  absorb  every¬ 
thing  in  their  heat  and  light,  and  which  appear  by  their 
weight  and  mass  to  dominate  the  earth. 

To  our  eyes,  it  is  the  earth,  the  sphere  of  inferior 
dimensions,  which  is  the  most  brilliant,  and  which  exerts 
a  sovereign  empire. 

Without  it  the  torch  of  day,  that  of  night,  each  of 
those  vast  suns,  centres  of  so  many  systems,  would  be 
cold,  dull,  inactive. 

Since  the  Incarnate  Word  touched  its  dust,  and  made 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


207 


Himself  one  with  it,  this  world  is  a  focus  of  glory,  send¬ 
ing  to  the  farthest  limits  of  creation  the  rays  that  come 
from  its  atoms. 

To  it,  to  this  sun  of  suns,  belong  the  most  beautiful 
halo,  the  richest  splendor,  the  most  perfect  beauty. 

.The  material  world  is  the  chariot  of  divine  glory  ;  the 
suns  are  its  brilliant  wheels  ;  the  days  and  nights  are  its 
movements  ;  time  its  march  ;  the  angels  are  its  invisible 
conductors  ;  the  earth  is  its  seat  of  gold.* 

This  triumphal  car  goes  from  eternity  to  eternity.  It 
carries  the  Redeemer,  and  with  Him  the  wonders  of  His 
justice,  those  of  His  mercy,  the  mysteries  of  the  Incar¬ 
nation  and  of  the  Blessed  Eucharist. 

Millions  of  millions  of  spirits  are  at  His  right,  and 
millions  of  millions  at  His  left.  All  follow  Him  with 
their  joyous  acclamations;  all  point  Him  out  for  respect 
and  for  praise  : 

“Salute  the  earth,  O  brilliant  sun!  and  learn  of  it  to 
carry  larther  the  glory  of  thy  Creator. 

“  Salute  the  earth,  0  moon  !  send  it  thy  sweet  reflec¬ 
tion  through  the  night,  and  be  an  humble  servant. 

“Salute  the  earth,  0  stars!  you  are  the  ornament  of 
the  pavilion  under  which  the  holy  ark  moves. 

“  Suns,  with  your  countless  satellites,  with  your  crowns 
of  fire,  in  your  gigantic  course,  from  the  farthest  point 
where  }7ou  will  see  sparkle  this  small  globe,  recognize  it, 
salute  it;  cry  out:  ’Tis  the  majesty  of  God  that  ap¬ 
proaches,  ’tis  the  goodness  of  God  that  is  passing  by. 

“Suns,  moon,  planets,  worlds  of  all  dimensions,  stars  of 

*  This  is,  therefore,  according  to  David,  the  chariot  of  God:  the  chariot,  he 
says,  of  God  made  tenfold.  This  world,  the  chariot  of  God,  the  Angels  them¬ 
selves  draw.  (Tertull.,  on  the  Trinity ,  8  under  the  name  of  Novatian.) 


208 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


every  distance,  crown  with  your  rays  this  fortunate  sphere, 
congratulate  it,  bear  it  an  holy  envy. 

“  The  Most  High  has  not  confided  to  you,  as  to  it,  His 
revelations;  the  Divine  Word  has  not  visited  you,  as  he 
has  it,  in  the  bowels  of  His  mercy  ;  He  has  not  made  His 
sojourn  in  you;  you  are  not  His  home;  you  have  inti¬ 
mate  relations  with  Him  only  by  your  union  with  the 
earth. 

“  It  was  to  be  the  escort  of  the  earth  that  you  were 
created.  The  earth  is  the  jewel  of  the  universe:  what 
do  I  say?  it  is  its  vital  centre,  its  heart.” 

The  divine  history  of  the  world  will  be  only  the  his¬ 
tory  of  the  march  of  the  chariot  of  glory  through  time. 
When  it  will  make  its  triumphal  entry  into  eternity,  the 
series  of  ages  will  be  closed,  the  last  hour  of  time  will 
have  passed  ;  there  will  be  no  hour,  no  age,  no  time. 


i 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


209 


IX. 

FINAL  REGENERATION. 

/ 

The  earth,  soiled,  cleansed,  soiled  again,  must  like  the 
body  be  humbled  and  reduced  to  dust  ;  it  must  pass 
through  the  crucible,  go  through  its  purgatory,  before 
being  admitted  to  the  glory  of  universal  restoration.* 

The  heavenly  spheres,  having  served  less  proximately 
the  perversity  of  intelligent  creatures,  will  undergo  a  less 
degradation  ;  they  will  not  be  broken  to  pieces,  nor  con¬ 
fused  in  a  new  chaos  ;f  but  they  will  change  aspect,  lose 
their  brilliancy,  have  violent  movements,  and  no  longer 
the  same  regularity  in  their  march. 

In  the  execution  of  the  divine  decree  of  this  final  re¬ 
generation,  our  part  will  be  great. 

Ceasing  to  keep  in  equilibrium  worlds  and  their  ele¬ 
ments,  suspending  the  action  of  laws  which  preside  over 
the  government  of  matter,  giving  up  to  chance  these 
movements,  hitherto  so  wonderfully  combined,  w,e  shall 
thus  bring  on  the  first  phase  of  renovation. 

The  effects  of  this  change  in  our  operations  will  be  im¬ 
mediate. 

The  derangement  of  the  seasons,  universal  sterility, 

*  That  purging  of  the  world  will  remove  from  it  he  infec  ion  left  by  sin,  and 
the  impurity  of  contamination,  and  will  dispose  for  the  perfection  of  glory  ;  and 
therefore,  as  regards  these  three,  it  will  most  fitly  be  brought  about  by  fire. 
(>t.  Thomas,  Suppl.,  q.  76,  art  2.) 

f  Heavenly  bodies  will  be  made  pure  neither  by  fire  nor  by  the  action  of  any 
creature.  (Ibid.,  art.  4.) 


210 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


frightful  meteors  in  the  air,  the  sun  deprived  of  its  light, 
the  moon  bloody,  stars  appearing  to  fall  from  heaven,  the 
earth  shaken  to  its  foundations,  rocks  bursting  asunder, 
the  earth  divesting  itself  of  its  beauty,  and  opening  ; 
everything  tells  that  the  hand  of  the  angel  has  been  with¬ 
drawn. 

At  this  sight  men  will  wither  away  through  fear  ;  they 
do  not  know  whither  to  fly  and  find  refuge  ;  they  see 
death  everywhere,  finding  a  tomb  everywhere. 

It  is  thus  that  we  shall  allow  inanimate  creatures  to 
recede  from  the  control  of  the  hand  that  perverted  them 
from  their  way,  made  them  serve  ignoble  passions,  armed 
them  against  the  Creator,  committed  the  crime  of  treason 
to  God.* 

On  the  day  when  men  filled  the  measure  of  their  mis¬ 
deeds,  by  putting  to  death  the  Son  of  God  on  Calvary, 
nature  clothed  herself  in  mourning,  the  stars  grew  pale, 
earth  gave  out  but  plaintive  groans. 

To-day  affliction  gives  place  to  menace  ;  to-day  every 
creature  is  in  rebellion,  bursts  its  bonds,  takes  on  an  aspect 
of  terror,  strikes  the  tyrant,  revenges  itself  for  the  un¬ 
worthy  slavery  in  which  it  has  been  so  long  held.f 

After  the  utter  disappearance  of  man,  we  shall  cease 

*  Against  those  guilty  of  treason  against  Divine  Majesty,  every  creature  is  an 
avenger.  (Vivien,  the  Angel.) 

-j- Therefore,  because  all  things  are  to  be  consummated,  before  consummation 
all  are  in  disturbance;  and  since  we  have  sinned  in  all  things,  in  all  things  are 
we  stricken,  that  what  is  written  may  be  fulfilled:  and  the  whole  earth  will 
fight  against  the  senseless.  For  all  those  things  we  have  received  for  usage  of 
life,  we  turn  to  the  use  of  sin,  but  what  we  bent  to  the  uses  of  depravity  is  di¬ 
verted  to  our  punishment . Rightly  therefore  does  it  remain  that  all  things 

at  the  same  time  strike  us,  which  all  at  the  same  time,  subdued  to  our  vices, 
were  our  slaves,  so  that  as  many  as  were  the  joys  we  had  unharmed  in  the 
world,  just  so  many  torments  will  we  be  compelled  to  suffer  from  it.  (St.  Greg¬ 
ory  the  Great,  Horn.  35.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


211 


from  all  conserving  action  on  earth,  and  we  shall  call  to 
it,  for  its  last  and  complete  regeneration,  the  most  active 
of  destroying  elements,  fire. 

In  the  name  of  sovereign  justice  and  of  infinite  holi¬ 
ness,  we  shall  light  the  avenging  torch,  and  carry  it  to 
all  the  points  of  this  mass  of  ruins. 

To  ruins,  to  chaos,  has  soon  succeeded  an  immense 
heap  of  ashes.  Above  the  unbroken  surface  of  ashes 
the  Angels  hover  an  instant. 

Vast  tomb!  frightful  silence  !  impenetrable  night! 

For  us  who  saw  the  earthly  sphere  bud  forth  from 
space,  receive  in  the  midst  of  suns  a  place  of  honor  ;  who 
celebrated  its  beauty  and  magnificence,  who  were  its 
moving  power,  its  guides,  its  guardians,  what  a  spectacle  ! 

In  the  bosom  of  immensity,  a  dark  sphere,  without 
form,  accompanied  by  globular  masses  of  frightful  ap¬ 
pearance,  such  is  what  was  the  living  and  marvelous 
earth  ! 

What  place  soever  the  grain  of  dust  may  have  occu¬ 
pied  in  the  organization  and  adornment  of  the  primitive 
globe,  whether  it  shone  in  the  diadem  of  kings  or  was 
confounded  with  the  ruin,  see  it  on  a  level  with  every 
other  grain  of  dust. 

To  destroy  the  harmonious  arrangement  that  ravished 
man  with  delight,  and  too  often  led  him  astray,  what  was 
needed?  No  display  of  force  was  necessary:  it  was 
enough  for  the  angels  to  withhold  their  action. 

At  our  feet  now  stretches  the  valley  of  terror,  the 
'.nposing  theatre  where  is  to  be  pronounced  upon  men 
and  upon  angels  the  last  Judgment. 

After  the  ascent  ot  the  elect  into  glory,  the  descent 
f  the  damned  into  hell,  the  reunion  of  the  imperfect 


212 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


into  the  intermediate  city,  what  will  become  of  this 
theatre  of  divine  justice  and  of  divine  mercy? 

This  matter  inert,  regenerated  by  fire,  will  it  have 
accomplished  all  its  destiny  ?  will  it  have  become  use¬ 
less,  and  will  it  be  given  back  to  nothingness? 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


213 


MATTER  IN  ETERNITY. 

After  the  great  regeneration  of  the  end  of  the  world, 
matter  will  by  no  means  be  annihilated  ;  it  will  be  trans¬ 
formed,  and  will  appear  to  us  under  the  form  of  new 
heavens  and  of  new  earth.* 

The  lute  which  served  us  to  repeat  such  sweet  praise 
to  our  God  will  be  given  back  to  us  more  delicate,  more 
lively,  and  will  serve  to  give  forth  again  still  sweeter 
praise. 

The  Redeemer  has  regenerated  everything  in  time  ; 
He  is  going  to  glorify  everything  in  eternity. 

Never  again  to  be  tainted  by  the  evil-doing  of  a  crea¬ 
ture  and  fall  with  it,  matter  will  be  crowned  with  a 
beauty  that  shall  have  nothing  of  fragility,  or  of  a  pass¬ 
ing  nature.  Every  creature  not  marked  by  the  seal  of 
reprobation,  shall  be  ennobled  and  glorified,  even  inor¬ 
ganic  matter. 

It  is  true  that  justice  will  have  its  part  as  mercy. 
The  dust  that  formed  the  bodies  of  the  reprobate  shall 
be  separated  from  the  dust  that  is  made  glorious,  and 
shall  not  have  any  contact  with  it.  But  both  will  sub¬ 
sist  in  like  manner  without  end,  and  not  an  atom  of  either 

*Isaias,  c.  65,  v.  17.;  Apoc.,  c.  21,  v.  1  ;  St.  Peter,  II.  Ep.,  c.  3,  v.  13.  Heaven 
and  earih  in  that  by  which  we  see  them  pass  away  ;  essentially,  however,  they 
remain.  (St.  Gregory  the  Great,  Morals,  1.  17,  c.  3.)  For  the  figur-  of  this 
woi  Id  passed  away,  not  the  substance.  (St.  Augustin,  on  the  Dogmas  of  the 
Church.) 


i 


214 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


will  cease  to  exist.  The  work  of  the  Creator  will  remain 
in  its  integrity.* 

Earth  will  have  in  eternity  a  new  destiny,  united  with 
the  destiny  of  the  elect  and  of  the  Redeemer.  It  will 
subsist  as  the  hook  of  great  memories. 

What  titles  bind  the  body  of  man  to  earth!  ’Tis  the 
mother  that  formed  it,  the  nurse  that  gave  it  its  first  ali¬ 
ment,!  the  house  it  inhabited,  and  the  table  at  which  it 
sat,  the  field  where  the  sweat  of  its  brow  flowed,  the 
couch  where  its  members  reposed,  the  sweet  cradle  that 
received  it  on  its  arrival  in  the  world,  and  the  peaceful 
sepulchre  that  received  it  after  death. 

For  souls,  the  earth  was  their  first  country.  Souls  are 
of  celestial  and  divine  origin  ;  but  they  began  to  exist  on 
earth.  There  they  fulfilled  their  temporal  destiny,  prac¬ 
tised  virtue,  prepared  a  reward  for  themselves,  and  it  is 
from  the  earth  that  they  came  to  eternity. 

But  has  not  the  terrestrial  sphere  a  greater  honor 
still  ?  Has  it  not  been  the  home  of  the  Body  and  Soul 
of  the  Incarnate  Word? 

The  soul  of  the  Word  Incarnate  commenced  its  exist¬ 
ence  on  a  point  in  this  globe,  and  did  not  leave  it  till  it  had 
accomplished  the  mysteries  of  its  great  work.  Between 
arrival  and  departure,  in  that  divine  journey,  how  full  of 
honor,  how  sanctifying  everything  was! 

By  taking  from  this  earth  the  grains  of  dust  which 
formed  His  body,  and  carrying  them  to  heaven  as  glori- 

*  It  is  to  be  simply  said  that  nothing  at  all  is  reduced  to  nothing.  (St.  Thomas, 
1,  q.  104,  art  4.) 

fAs  the  nurse  of  a  royal  child,  when  the  boy  is  crowned,  on  his  account 
shares  in  the  royal  goods,  so  in  like  manner,  when  man  is  gifted  with  glory, 
this  his  glory  will  be  shared  by  other  creatures  which  served  man.  (St.  John 
Chrysostom,  on  Fasting  and  the  reading  of  Genesis.) 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 


215 


ous  first  fruits,  the  Word  united  it  to  Himself  by  bonds 
of  concomitance,  and  prepared  the  way  to  its  being 
glorified. 

Glorified  matter  will  be  the  eternal  memorial  of  the 
scenes  which  were  the  preparation  of  eternity.  The  elect 
will  see  in  it  dust  moistened  with  the  tears  of  penitents, 
reddened  with  the  blood  of  martys,  drinking  the  Blood 
of  God. 

Glorified  matter  will  be  a  source  of  joy  to  the  elect. 
Was  not  the  earth,  the  whole  earth,  made  for  them?  It 
will  be  for  them  in  eternity  as  it  was  for  them  in  time.* 

We  shall  no  longer  have  to  govern  it  ;  but  God  will 
give  us  the  happiness  to  produce  these  unceasingly  varied 
phenomena  to  recreate  the  senses  of  the  bodies  of  the 
blessed. 

The  sun  will  be  more  brilliant,  the  air  purer,  the  hori¬ 
zon  vaster,  water  more  limpid, f  the  flowers  more  fragrant, 
the  verdure  brighter,  the  trees  more  majestic,  all  colors 
more  lively,  all  forms  more  graceful,  and  over  this  ineffa¬ 
ble  creation  will  hover,  as  the  smile  of  a  God  appeased, 
an  immense  and  radiant  iris.  J 

*So  that  it  be  glorified  with  the  saints  it  served,  and  may  rtjoice  their  minds 
and  eyes.  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  on  the  II.  Ep.  of  St.  Peter ,  c.  3.) 

f  All  the  elements  will  he  clothed  with  a  certain  splendor,  not  indeed  equally, 
but  each  after  its  manner.  The  earth  superficially  will  be  transparent  as  glass, 
water  like  crystal,  the  air  like  the  heavens,  fire  like  the  stars.  (St.  Thomas, 
Supplem.,  q.  91,  art.  4.) 

Î  The  earth  which  hid  in  its  bosom  the  body  of  the  Lord  will  be  wholly  like 
paradise,  and  because  bedewed  with  the  blood  of  the  martyrs,  it  will  be  forever 
decorated  with  sweet-smelling  flowers,  roses,  imperishable  violets.  (St.  Anselm., 
in  Eleucidario.)  William  of  Paris  a-serts  that  very  wise  men  think  that  after 
the  day  of  judgment,  and  the  conflagration  of  the  world,  the  earth  will  again 
be  clwthed  with  flowers,  buds,  trees,  fountains,  and  other  similar  ornaments, 
both  for  the  ornament  of  the  world,  and  for  the  pleasure  of  the  saints  as  well 
as  for  the  recreation  of  the  infants  that  died  without  baptism,  who  will  dwell 
on  it.  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  on  the  II.  Ep.  of  St.  Peter,  1.  3.) 


> 


216  MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH. 

The  senses  of  the  elect  will  find  in  this  spectacle  a 
penetrating  enjoyment.*  The  delights  of  the  spirit  as 
well  as  those  of  the  body  will  be  equally  tested,  and  will 
be  a  perpetual  hymn  to  the  God  who  has  glorified  all.f 
i  '  The  souls  deprived  of  supernatural  happiness  will  not 
seize,  as  we,  the  glory  with  which  the  universe  will  be 
resplendent  ;  but  they  will  be  initiated  into  all  the  natural 
secrets  of  these  great  scenes,  and  will  enjoy  them  with¬ 
out  hindrance. 

Then  every  grain  of  dust  having  found  its  way  will  go 
straight  to  its  end;  then  every  creature,  freed  and  re¬ 
newed,  will  enter  into  the  grand  harmony  ;  then  the 
heavens,  and  the  heaven  of  heavens,  will  be  without 
division  the  Lord’s  ;  then  will  begin  its  course  the  true 
age  of  gold. 

*The  flesh  made  spiritual  in  all  its  senses  will  abound  with  many  varied  de¬ 
lights.  (St.  Laurence  Justinian,  on  Discipline ,  1.  23.) 

•(•Romans,  c.  8,  v.  21. 


MEMOIRS  OF  A  SERAPH 


217 


EPILOGUE. 

If  some  friend  of  the  Angels,  interested  in  my  recital, 
will  come  to  this  last  page,  let  him  know  that  I  awaited 
for  him  here. 

Yes,  0  well-beloved  of  God,  I  awaited  you  here  to 
appoint  a  place  of  meeting  in  the  midst  of  those  glorious 
Spirits  whose  history  you  have  enjoyed. 

Among  them  I  see  your  place  assigned.  Did  you  but 
know  how  brilliant  it  is  !  Did  you  but  see  how  it  is 
encircled  by  souls  you  knew,  by  whom  you  were  be¬ 
loved,  and  who  open  their  arms  to  you  ! 

Walk  in  the  way  of  the  Angels,  follow  their  inspira¬ 
tions  ;  imitate  their  virtue  ;  seek  their  society,  and  you 
will  come  to  join  me  one  day  in  heaven,  and  with  me 
continue  to  praise  and  bless  the  Lord. 

Awaiting  this,  be  generous;  remember  in  your  prayer 
the  author  who  lent  me  his  pen  and  his  hand;  recollect 
yourself,  raise  up  your  heart,  and  say  for  him  a  word  to  ' 
his  good  angel. 

The  End. 


APPENDIX 

VOLUME  I.  ‘ 


The  author  having  very  judiciously  expressed  his  desire  that  his  Latin  notes 
should  be  printed  in  this  translation,  they  are  put  here  together,  with  the  page 
on  which  they  are  respectively  found,  for  convenience  of  reference. 

PAGE. 

vi.  De  Divin.  Nomin .,  c.  4. 

x.  Aureo  calamo,  Angelo  afferente,  præfatura  librum  Veronica  conscripsit. 
(  Vie  de  sainte  Véronique  de  Milan,  par  Isidore  Isolanus,  Bollandistes.) 

xiii.  Et  nos  Angelorum  candidati  jam  hinc  cœlestem  illam  in  Deum  vocem  et 
officium  futuræ  claritatis  ediscimus.  (Tertullien,  sur  la  Prière.) 

17.  In  principio.  (Genèse,  c.  1,  v.  1.) 

18.  Ipse  fecit  nos  et  non  ipsi  nos.  (Ps.  99,  v.  3.) 

18.  Factorem  cœli  et  terræ,  visibilium  omnium  et  invisibilium.  (Symbole  de 
Nicôe.) 

18.  Procul  dubio  non  est  factus  mundus  in  tempore,  sed  cum  tempore.  (S. 
Augustin,  Cité  de  Dieu,  1.  11,  c.  6.) 

18.  Qui  vivit  in  æternum  creavit  omnia  simul.  (Ecclés.,  c.  18,  v.  1.)  Qui  sua 
omnipotenti  virtute  simul  ab  initio  temporis  utramque  de  nihilo  condidit  cre- 
aturam,  spiritaiera  et  corporalem,  Angelicam  videlicet  et  mundanam,  et  deinde 
humanam  quasi  communem  in  spiritu  et  corpore  constitutam.  (Quatrième 
conci.e  de  Latran,  c.  Firmiter.) 

18.  Deus  fecit  de  nihilo  cœlum,  id  est  Angelos,  et  terram,  id  est  informem 
materiam.  (S.  Aug.,  Confess.,  1.  12,  c.  7.) 

19.  Angeli  enim  sunt  quædam  pars  universi;  non  constituunt  perse  unum 
universum,  sed  tarn  ipsi  quam  creatura  corporea  in  constitutionem  unius  uni¬ 
versi  conveniunt.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  61,  art.  3.) 

19.  Animæ  simul  creantur  cum  corporibus  et  infunduntur.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q. 
118,  art  3.) 

19.  In  creaturis  omnibus  invenitur  repræsentatio  divinitatis,  per  modum  ves- 
tigii.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  45,  art.  7.) 

20.  Non  conservatur  ad  momentum  nisi  præsènte  sigillo.  (S.  Bonaventure.) 
Portansque  omnia  verbo  virtutis  suæ.  (Hebr.,  c.  1,  v.  3.)  Portât  omnia,  hoc  est. 
sursum  tenet  ne  décidant  et  in  nihilum  revertantur  unde  creata  ab  ipso  fuerant, 
(S  Anselme.)  Naturalia  non  conservantur  in  esse  nisi  virtute  Dei.  (S.  Thomas, 
contra  Gent  es.) 

22.  Licet,  in  gradu  intellectuali,  posset  Deus  facere  species  perfectiores,  non 

tamen  potest  faeere  substantiam  altioris  gradus  quam  sint  Angeli.  (Suarez,  1.  3, 
c.  2,  n.  8.)  \ 

23.  Angelorum  substantiam  accurate  non  novimus,  licetque  millies  philoso¬ 
phera  ur,  reperire  non  possumus.  (S.  Chrysostome,  de  Vlncomprêhensibilitê  de  la 
nature  de  Dieu,  hom.  5.) 

23.  Angélus  officii  nomen  est,  non  naturæ.  (S.  Aug.,  sur  le  Ps.  103.) 

(1) 


2 


APPENDIX. 


23.  Cur  quæris  nomen  meum  quod  est  mirabile?  (Juges,  c.  13,  v.  18;  Genèse, 
c.  32,  v.  29.) 

24.  Corpus  ejus  erat  quasi  Chrysolithus.  (Daniel,  c.  10,  v.  6.)  Chrysolithus  hie 
significat  Angelorum  naturam  præcellentem  cœlestem  et  spiritualem  quæ  aliis 
creaturis  eminet  uti  sol  astris,  aurum  metallis.  (Cornelius  a  Lapide,  sur  ce  pas¬ 
sage.) 

25.  Gallien. 

27.  Cœlestes  spiritus  dividuntur  in  essentiam,  virtutem  et  operationem.  (S. 
Denys,  Hier.,  c.  11.)  Nec  voluntas  Angeli,  nec  alterius  creaturæ  potest  esse  idem 
quod  tjus  essentia.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  59,  art.  2.)  Esse  Angeli  non  est  intelligere 
ejus.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  54,  art.  2.) 

27.  Eodem  modo  quo  radix  arboris  fructus  non  nisi  mediis  ramis  profert. 
(Sanseverino.  Dynamilogia,  c.  1,  art.  1.) 

27.  Non  enim  in  infantili  staturâ  sunt  creati,  deinde  paulatim  excitati  atque 
perfecti.  (S.  Basile,  su£  le  Ps.  32.) 

28.  Quia  est  anima  in  confinio  spiritualium  et  corporalium  creaturarum,  ideo 
concurrunt  in  ipsâ  virtutes  utrarumque  creaturarum.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  77, 
art.  2.) 

28.  Homo  est  in  ultimo  gradu  secundum  naturam  eorum  quibus  competit  be- 
atitudo;  et  ideo  multis  et  diversis  operationibus  et  virtutibus  indiget  anima 
humana;  Angelis  vero  minor  diversitas  potentiarum  competit;  in  Deo  vero  non 
est  aliqua  potentia  vel  actio  præter  ejus  essentiam.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  77,  art.  2.) 

30.  Secundi  splendores  procreati  sunt  primi  splendoris  administri.  (S.  Gré¬ 
goire  de  Nazianze,  Sermon  38.) 

30.  Nomen  intellectus  quamdam  intimam  cognitionem  importât;  dicitur  enim 
intelligere  quasi  intns  legere.  (S.  Thomas,  2  2,  q.  8,  art.  1.) 

30.  Adæquatio  intellectus  et  rei.  (S.  Thomas,  contra  Genies,  1,  59,) 

31.  Unde  et  Intelligentiæ  nuncupantur.  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  sur  Zacharie,  c.  3,  y.  9.) 

31.  Ex  uno  cognito  in  aliud  cognitum  procedunt.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  58,  art.  3.) 

31.  Statim  in  illis  quæ  primo  naturalitur  cognoscunt,  inspiciunt  omnia  quæ- 
cumque  in  eis  cognosci  possunt.  (Ibid.)  Si  attendatur  intellectus  notitia,  absque 
mora  et  discursu,  omnia  naturaliter  scibilia  clare  intuentur.  (Vivien,  sur  S. 
Michel.) 

32.  Animæ  vero  humanæ  rationales  vocantur:  quod  quidem  contingit  ex  de¬ 
bilitate  intellectualis  luminis  in  eis.  (S,  Thomas,  1,-58,  art.  3.) 

32.  Homines  in  suâ  cognitione  indigent  sensibus  qui  eos  fallunt.  Vivien, 
Angélus.) 

32.  Notitia  vero  naturalis  Angelorum  est  a  sensibus  independens  utpote  pure 
intellectualis.  (Ibid.) 

32.  Hominis  cognitionem  si  Angelicæ  cognitioni  compares  tota  dubia  est  (S. 
Ephrem,  Hymnus  de  natura  Angelorum .)  In  Angeli  cognitione  non  potest  esse 
deetptio  et  falsitas.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  58,  art.  5.) 

33.  Hominum  notitia  valde  limitata  est,  ad  pauca  enim  objecta  sese  extendit. 
(Vivien,  Angélus.) 

33.  Notitia  vero  Angelorum  amplissima  est.  (Vivien,  Angélus.) 

33.  Potentia  spiritualis  mentis  angelicæ  cuncta  quæ  voluerit,  facillime  simul 
comprehendit.  (S.  Augustin,  super  Gentsim  ad  Litleram,  4.) 


APPENDIX. 


3 


33.  Nos  invenimur  quandoque  intelligentes  in  potentia  et  non  in  actu.  (S. 
Thomas,  1,  q.  54,  art.  4.)  Notitia  hominum  nec  continua  est,  ob  dependentiam 
intellectus  a  sensibus.  (Vivien,  Ang>  lus.) 

33.  Soli  Angeli  semper  sibi  prasentes  sunt.  (S.  Jean  Climaque,  Echelle  du  ciel , 
Degré  4.) 

33.  Neque  sunt  quandoque  intelligentes  in  potentia  tantum.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q. 
54,  art.  4.) 

34. '  Vidi  et  ecce  in  medio  throni  Agnum  stantem  tamquam  occisum  habentes 
oculos  septem,  qui  sunt  sept  m  spiritus  Dei  missi  in  omnem  terrain.  (Apoc.,  c., 
5,  v.  6.)  Per  Angelos  Deus  liominibus  præsidet:  ide«  que  oc  H  dicuutur.  (S. 
Clément  d’Alexandrie,  Strom.,  1.  6.)  Angeli  vocantur  oculi  quia  sunt  puræ 
meutes  perspicacissimæ  et  vigilantissimæ.  (Corn,  a  Lapide,  sur  Zacharie ,  e.  3, 
v.  8,  9.) 

35.  Memoria  non  est  alia  potentia  ab  intellectu...  Intelligentia  oritur  ex  me- 
moria  sicut  actus  ex  habitu.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  79,  art.  7.) 

36.  De  ratione  mémorisé  est  quod  sit  thesaurus  conservative  specierum.  (S. 
Thomas,  1,  q.  79,  art.  7.) 

36.  -In  Angeli  cugnitione  non  potest  esse  deceptio  et  falsitas.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q. 
58,  art.  5.) 

37.  Si  attendatur  memorise  firmitas,  ita  felix  est  ut  nulla  in  illam  irrepat  ob- 
livio.  (Vivieu,  sur  saint  Michel.) 

37.  Non  omnia  quæ  naturali  cognitione  cognoscit  semper  actu  considérât,  sed 
quantum  ad  cognitionem  Verbi  et  eoiurn  quæ  in  Verbo  videt,  nunquam  hoc 
modo  est  in  potentia,  quia  semper  actu  intuetur  Verbum  et  ea  quæ  in  Verbo 
videt.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  ;>8,  art.  1.) 

37.  Potentia  spiritualis  mentis  Angelicæ  cuncta  quæ  voluerit  facillime  simul 
comprehendit.  (S.  Aug.,  sur  la  Genèse,  1.  4,  c.  32.) 

38.  Manes  in  memoria  mea  et  illic  te  invenio.  Hæ  sunt  sanctæ  deliciæ  meæ. 
(S.  Aug.,  Confes.,  1.  10,  c.  24.) 

39.  Cum  Angeli  per  intellectual  cognoscunt  ipsam  universalem  rationem  boni 
manifestum  est  quod  sit  in  eis  voluntas.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  59,  art.  1.) 

39.  Voluntas  Angeli  nunquam  transit  ab  actu  ad  non  actum,  sed  ab  uno  actu 
ad  alium.  Neque  potest  suspendere  omnem  actum  liberum.  (Suarez,  1.  8,  c.  Il, 
n.  20.) 

40.  Cognitionis  fontes  et  scaturigines.  (S.  Sophronius,  Encom.  Angel.) 

41.  Vie  de  saint  Thomas  d'Aquin. 

42.  Potentes  virtute.  (Ps.  102,  v.  20.)  Qui  facis  Angelos  tuos,  spiritus;  et 
ministros  tuos,ignem  urentem.  (Ps.  103,  v.  4) — Angeli  fortitudine  et  virtute  cum 
sint  majores.  (S.  Pierre,  Epit.  2,  c.  2,  v.  11.)  Si  facerent  Angeli  quidquid  possunt, 
sustineri  non  possent.  (S.  August.,  sur  le  Ps.  95.) 

42.  Possent  Angeli,  si  nudam  facultatem  naturalem  spectes,  animalia  occidere, 
arbores  eradicare,  montes  transferre  et  similia.  (Suarez,  1.  4,  c.  27,  n.  6.) 

42.  Sancti  Angeli  divinis  ordinationibus  ad  çutum  parent.  Mali  autem  An¬ 
geli  quamvis  eis  resistere  cuperent,  non  valent.  (Suarez,  1.  4,  c.  27,  n.  6.) 

43.  Cœlestis  natura  ignorât  lassitudinem  et  laborem,  (S.  Chrysologue,  Serra. 
75.) 

43.  Creare  non  potest  esse  propria  actio  nisi  solius  Dei.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  45, 


4 


APPENDIX. 


art.  5.)  Creare  naturam  tarn  nullus  Angelus  potest  quam  nec  seipstim.  (S. 
Aug.,  de  Gen.  ad  Litter .,  1.  9.  c.  15:  Suarez,  L  4,  c.  25. 

43.  Sicut  in  potentia  Cçeatoris  fuit  ut  res  essent,  ita  in  potentia  Creatoris  ut 
non  sint.  S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  9,  art.  2  ) 

44.  Dicendum  est  Angelos  non  habere  virtutem  naturalem  ad  produeendam 
substantiam  aliquam  etiam  in  subjectâ  materiâ.  (Suarez,  1.  4,  c.  25,  n.  4.) 

44.  Non  magis  habent  Angeli  potestatem  efficiendi  qualitates  in  corporibus, 
quâm  educendi  formas  substantiales  e  materia.  (Suarez,  1.  4,  c.  26.) 

44.  Ex  hoc  aliquid  dicitur  esse  miraculum  quod  sit  præter  ordinem  totius 
naturæ  creatæ.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  110,  art.  4.) 

44.  Unde  relinquitur  quod  solus  Deus  miracula  facere  possit.  (S.  Thomas,  1, 
q.  110,  art.  4.) 

45.  Obediente  Domino  voci  hominis.  (Josué,  c.  10,  v.  14.)  Angeli  aliqui  di- 
cuntur  miracula  lacere,  vel  quia  ad  eorum  desiderium  Deus  miracula  facit,  sicut 
et  sancti  homines  dicuntur  miracula  facere,  vel  quia  aliquod  ministerium  ex¬ 
hibent  in  miraculis  quæ  hunt.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  110,  art.  4.) 

46.  Fatentur  omnes  Angelos  esse  aliquo  modo  in  loco.  ( Theologia  Claromonlen - 
sis,  c.  2,  art.  3.) 

46.  Distantia  inter  ipsos  Angelos  non  fundatur  in  corporibus  in  quibus  sunt, 
sed  in  propriis  et  intrinsecis  ubi  utriusque  Angeli.  (Suarez,  1.  4,  c.  8,  n.  3.) 

46.  Suarez,  1.  4,  c.  7,  n.  3. 

46.  Quidam  imaginationem  transcendere  non  valentes,  cogitaverunt  indivisi- 
biliiatem  Angeli  ad  modum  indivisibilitatis  puncti,  et  ideo  crediderunt  quod 
Angelus  non  posset  esse  nisi  in  loco  punctali.  Sed  manifeste  dezepti  sunt.  (S. 
Thomas,  1,  q.  52,  art.  2.) 

47.  Totum  illud  cui  immediate  applicatur  virtus  Angeli  reputatur  ut  unus 
locus  ejus,  licet  non  sit  continuus.  (S.  Thomas.  1,  q.  52,  art.  2.) 

47.  Deus  non  solum  in  pluribus  locis  est,  sed  ubique...  Angelus  non  ubique  nec 
in  pluribus  locis,  sed  in  uno  loco  tantum.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  52,  art.  2.) 

47.  S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  52,  art.  2. — (Suarez,  1.  4,  c.  10.) 

47.  Anima  in  suo  corpore  ubique  tota  viget.  (S.  Ambr.,  de  Dignit.  cond.  hum., 
c.  2.) 

47.  Cum  Angelus  sit  in  loco  per  applicationem  virtutis  suæ  ad  locum  sequitur 
quod  non  sit  ubique  nec  in  pluribus  locis,  sed  in  uno  loco  tantum.  (S.  Thomas, 
1,  q.  52,  art.  2.) 

47.  Vies  de  S.  François  d’ Assise,  de  S.  Pierre  d' Alcantara,  de  S.  Liguori. 

51.  Omnis  spiritus  ales:  hoc  et  Angeli  et  dæmones  :  lgitur  momento  ubique 
sunt:  totus  orbis  illis  locus  unus  est.  (Tertull.,  Apologétique ,  22.) 

52.  Angelicis  spiritibus  parietes  non  obsistunt,Fed  cuncta  illis  visibilia  cedunt, 
cuncta  æque  corpora  quantumlibet  solida  vel  spissa  penetrabilia  sunt  eis  ac  per- 
via.  (S.  Bernard,  Horn,  super  Missus  est.) 

52.  Angeli  etiam  missi  ante  Deum  sunt  quia  quomodo  libet  missi  veniunt  intra 
ipsum  currant.  (S.  Greg,  de  Naz.,  Horn.  54.) 

52.  Loca  omnia  peregrant  Angeli,  omnibus  impigre  adsunt,  turn  ob  ministerii 
promptitudinem,  turn  ob  naturæ  levitatem.  (S.  Grég.  de  Naz.,  Ora\  34.) 

53.  Ubicumque  est  intellectus,  ibi  est  liberum  arbitrium.  Sic  patet  liberum 
arbitrium  esse  in  Angelis  etiam  excellentius  quam  in  horuinibus.  (S.  Thomas, 


APPENDIX.  5 

1,  q.  59,  art.  3.)  In  à  ngelo  esse  liberum  arbitrium  de  fide  certum  est.  (Suarez, 
1.  3,  c.  1,  n.  2.) 

56.  Quæ  ex  voluntate  sola  dependent  vel  quæ  in  voluntate  sola  sunt  soli  Deo 
nota  sunt.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  57,  art.  4.) 

56.  Mentem  unius  nullus  alius  potest  videre  nisi  solus  Deus.  (S.  Thomas,  1, 
q.  107,  art.  1.) 

57..  Dominus  videns  cogitationes  eorum  ostendit  se  Deum.  (S.  Jérôme,  sur  S. 
Matthieu ,  c.  9. 

57.  Videns  universa  quæ  opéré  fiunt,  ea  vero  quæ  in  corde  atque  in  animo 
tractantur  nesciens.  (Origône,  1.  1,  sur  Job.) 

57.  Secretum  meiim  mihi  ;  secretum  meum  mihi.  (Isaïe,  c.  24,  y.  16.)  Aliena 
corda  humanis  et  Angelicis  oculis  clausa  sunt.  (S.  Grégo  re,  Morales .  1.  25,  c.  7.) 

59.  Angélus  loquitur  Deo,  vel  consulendo  divinam  voluntatem  de  agendis,  vel 
ejus  excellentiam  quam  nunquam  comprehendit  admirando,  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q. 
107,  art.  3.) 

59.  Per  voluntatem  conceptus  mentis  angelicæ  ordinatur  ad  alterum.  (S.  Tho¬ 
mas,  1,  q.  107,  art.  1.) 

60.  Superiores  inferioribus  et  inferiores  superioribus  loquuntur.  (S.  Thomas, 
1,  q.  107,  art.  2.)  Inferiores  Angeli  nunquam  illuminant  superiores.  (S.  Tho¬ 
mas,  1,  q.  106,  art.  3.) 

60.  In  locutione  Angeli  nullum  impedimentum  facit  distantia  loci.  (S.  Thomas, 
1,  q.  107,  art.  3.— Suarez,  1.  2,  c.  28,  n.  14.) 

61.  Locutionem  unius  Angeli  ad  alterum  potest  percipere  unus  absque  al  iis. 
(S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  107,  art.  5.) 

61.  Manifestum  est  posse  unum  Angelum  simul  ad  plures  loqui.  (Suarez,  1.  2, 
c.  28,  n.  20.) 

61.  Animarum  verba  ipsa  sunt  desideria.  (S.  Grégoire,  Morales,  1.  2,  c.  15.) 
Fatentur  posse  Angelum  loqui  ad  animarn  separatam  modo  angelico.  (Suarez, 
1.  2,  c.  28,  n.  69.) 

61.  Dicimus  non  posse  Angelum  loqui  ad  animarn  conjunctam  locutione  mere 
spirituali.  (Suarez,  ibid.) 

61.  Mala  aurea  in  lectis  argenteis  qui  loquitur  verbum  in  tempore  suo.  (Pro¬ 
verbes,  c.  25,  v.  11.) 

63.  Considerandum  est  quod  cum  omnia  procédant  a  voluntate  divina  omnia 
suo  modo  per  appetitum  inclinantur  in  bonum  sed  dnersimodê.  Quædam 
enim...  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  59,  art.  1.) 

63.  Amor  naturalis  mhil  aliud  est  quam  inclinatio  naturæ  indita  ab  auctore 
naturæ.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  60,  art.  1.) 

64.  S.  François  de  Sales,  Traité  de  V amour  de  Dieu,  1. 1,  c.  7.) 

66.  Eos  immortalitate  perpetuos  fide  tenemus.  (S.  Bernard,  de  la  Cons.,  1.  5, 
c.  4.— Suarez,  1.  1,  c.  9,  n.  2.) 

66.  Si  suam  actionem  eis  subtraheret,  omnia  in  nihilum  redigerentur.  (S. 
Thomas,  1,  q.  9,  art.  2.) 

66.  Solus  Peus  habet  immortalitatem,  quia  per  naturam  habet  et  non  per  gra- 
tiam.  (S.  Jérôme,  contre  Pêlage ,  Dialogue  2.) 

66.  Quod  vacat  corpore,  id  rationis  est  particeps,  et  immortale.  (S.  Jean 
Damasc.,  1.  de  Décret,  et  Placit.,  c.  7.) 


6 


APPENDIX. 


67.  Angélus  non  est  capax  talis  corruptionis  in  ordine  ad  quamcumque  poten* 
tiam  etiam  Dei.  (Suarez,  1.  1,  c.  9,  n.  4.) 

67.  In  cujus  potestate  est  esse  et  non  esse.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  9.  art.  2.) 

67.  Statuit  ea  in  æternum  et  in  sæculum  sæculi;  præceptum  posuit  et  non 
præterib  t.  (Ps.  148,  v.  6.)  Id  est  hoc  decretum  non  abibit  in  auras.  (Bellarmin, 
in  hune  locum.)  Ornnes  in  eâ  cives  immortales  erunt.  Faciet  hoc  Deus  omnipo- 
tentissimus  ejus  conditor.  Promisit  enim  nec  mentiri  potest.  (S.  Aug.,  Clé, 

1.  22,  c.  1.) 

69.  Angeli  non  sunt  sibi  ipsis  sufficientes  sed  indigent  cibis  intelligibilibus. 
(Origène,  sur  S.  Jean.) 

70.  Sed  ego  cibo  invisibili  et  po'u  qui  ab  hominibus  videri  non  potest  utor. 
(Tobie,  c.  12,  v.  19.)  Nimirum  Deus  Deique  visio  et  fruitio  est  cibus  Angelorum 
quo  deliciantur  et  heantur  jugiter.  (Cornel,  a  Lap.,  in  hune  locum.) 

70.  Deus  ipse  illis  est  taDquam  vita  victusque  communis.  (S.  Aug.,  Cité,  1.  22, 
c.  1. 

70.  Qui  vere  cibus  est  Angelorum  quos  Dei  Verbum  incorruptibiles  ineorrupti- 
biliter  pascit.  (S.  Aug.,  sur  le  Psaume  77  )  Angeli  et  animæ  intellectivæ  ex  hoc 
ipso  quod  habei  t  naturam  per  quam  sunt  capaces  veritatis,  sunt  incorruptibiles. 
(S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  61,  art,  20.) 

71.  De  modo  emanationis  rerum  a  primo  principio.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  45. 

71.  Non  enim  fecit  atque  abiit.  (S.  Aug.,  Confess.,  1.  4,(  c.  12.) 

72.  Angelos  post  Deum  novimus.  (Tertull.,  de  Came  Chrisli,  6.)  Unum  prope 
te,  alterum  prope  nihil  :  unum  quo  superior  tu  esses;  alterum  quo  inferius  nihil 
esset.  (S.  Aug.,  Confess.,  1.  12,  c.  7.) 

72.  Necesse  est  ponere  aliquas  creaturas  incorporeas:  id  enim  quod  præcipue 
in  rebus  créât  is  Deus  intendit  est  bonum  quod  consistit  in  assimilatione  ad 
Deum.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  50,  art.  1.) 

73.  Angeli  vere  istius  mundi  flores  sunt,  quod  eorum  claritatibus  ornatur 
mundus.  (S.  Ambroise,  sur  saint  Luc,  c.  12.) 

73.  Qui  dédit  carmina  in  nocte.  (Job,  c.  35,  v.  10.) 

73.  Majestas  ineffabilis  micantius  elucet  dum  earn  Angeli  in  nocturnis  tenebris 
modulantur.  O  noctis  obscuritis  Deo  ab  Angelis  laudando  idonea  atque  expetenda 
magis  !  (Vivien,  sur  saint  Michel.) 

74.  Oportuit  ad  perfectionem  universi  esse  naturas  intellectuales.  (S.  Thomas, 

2,  contra  Gentes,  49.) 

74.  Ad  perfectionem  universi  requiritur  ut  omnis  in  eo  creaturarum  gradus 
reperiatur:  ut  datur  creatura  pure  corporea,  ut  lapis;  datur  etiam  aliqua  crea- 
tura  mixta,  ut  homo:  ergo  dari  debuit  aliqua  creatura  pure  spiritualis,  ut  An¬ 
gélus.  (Vivien,  Angélus.) 

76.  Rationales  creaturæ  consequuntur  ultimam  finem,  cognoscendo et  amando 
Deum,  quod  non  competit  aliis  creaturis  quæ  adipiscuntur  ultimam  finem  in 
quantum  participant  aliquam  siinilitudinem  Dei,  secundum  quod  sunt,  vel 
vivunt,  vel  etiam  cognoscunt.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  2,  q.  1,  art.  8.) 

77.  Intellectus  Angeli  non  habet  defectum,  si  defectus  accipiatur  privative,  ut 
scilicet  careat  eo  quod  habere  debet.  Si  vero  accipiatur  negative,  sic  quælihet 
creatura  invenitur  deficiens,  Deo  comparata.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  12,  art.  4.) 

77.  Les  théologiens  aprellent  ces  dons  Prœternaturalia. 


APPENDIX.  7 

77.  Creatura  angelica  in  principio  suæ  creationis  habuit  perfectionem  suæ 
naturae.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  62,  art.  1.) 

77.  Quantum  ad  beatitudinem  quam  Angélus  assequi  virtute  suâ  potuit,  fuit 
creatus  beatus.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  62,  art.  1.) 

78.  Ultra  ilium  vero  finem  naturalem  additus  fuit  supernaturalis  finis  visionis 
beatæ.  (Suarez.  1.  5,  c.  1,  n.  2.) 

80..  Certain  est  posse  Deum  perfections  et  perfectiores  substantias  creare  sine 
termino,  non  tamen  inde  fit  creari posse  substantiam supernaturalem.  (Mazzella, 
de  Angelis. 

80.  Nulla  substantia  creata  potest  esse  supernaturalis.  (Suarez,  1,  2, c.  29,  n.  2.) 

80.  Sunt  beati  per  participationem,  sicut  et  dii  per  participationem  dicuntur. 
(S.  Thomas,  1,  2,  q.  3,  art.  1.) 

81.  Deus  charitas  est.  (S.  Jean,  Eplt.  1,  c.  4,  v.  8.) 

83.  Nec  aliqua  creatura  potest  consequi  beatitudinem  ultimam  per  sua  natur- 
alia.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  2,  q.  5,  art.  5.) 

83.  Actus  perducentes  ad  finem  oportet  esse  fini  proportionates.  (S.  Thomas, 
1,  2,  q.  109,  art.  5.) 

83.  Necesse  est.  quod  solus  Deus  deficet,  communicando  consortium  divinse 
naturæ.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  2,  q.  112,  art.  1.) 

84.  Bonam  voluntatem  quis  fecit  in  Angelis  nisi  ille  qui  eos  cum  suâ  voluntate 
creavit,  simul  in  eis  condens  naturam  et  largiens  gratiam?  (S.  Aug.,  Cité ,  1. 12, 
c.  9.) 

84.  Angeli  habuerunt  omnes  virtutes  infusas  in  primo  instanti.  (Suarez,  1. 5 
c.  4,  n.  10.) 

84.  Nec  video  cur  hæc  dona  Angelis  deneganda  sint,  vel  cur  sint  eorum  in- 
capaces.  (Snarez,  1.  5,  c.  4,  n.  12.) 

84.  Per  Yerbum  Angeli  creati  sunt  ac  per  Spiritus  sancti  sanctificationem, 
omnes  perfectionis  nnmerus  acceperunt.  (S.  Jean  Damasc.,  de  la  Foi,  1.  2,  c.  3.) 

85.  Angelus,  ex  quo  creatus  est,  cœpit  esse  viator  ad  patriam  propter  quam 
creabatur:  et  ideo  ex  tunc  etiam  gratiam  viatoris  habere  debuit.  (Suarez,  1.  5, 
c.  4,  n.  9.) 

85.  Intrinsece  afficit,  sive  inhærendo,  sive  salutariter  movendo.  (Theologia 
Clarom’ontensis,  de  Gratia,  Notioncs  præviæ.) 

86.  Angeli  qui  natura  magis  subtiles  creati  sunt,  hi  etiam  majoribus  gratiæ 
inuneribus  præditi  sunt.  (Pierre  Lombard,  Hist.  3,  Sentence  2.) 

86.  Sicut  natura  angelica  facta  est  a  Peo  ad  gratiam  et  beatitudinem  conse- 
quendam,  ita  etiam  gradus  naturæ  angelicæ  ad  diversos  gradus  gratiæ  et  gloriæ 
ordinari  videntur.  (S.  Thomas,  1 ,  q.  62,  art.  6.) 

86.  In  homine  est  aliquid  quod  potest  impedire  vel  retardare  motum  intellec- 
tivæ  naturæ,  non  autem  in  Angelis.  Unde  non  est  eadem  ratio  de  utraque. 
(S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  62,  art.  6.)  1 

86.  Ignobilia  mundi  et  contemptibilia  elegit  Deus  et  ea  quæ  non  sunt  ut  ea 
quæ  sunt  destrueret.  (S.  Paul  aux  Corinthiens,  Epit.  1,  c.  1,  v.  28.) 

87.  MeDsura  hominis  quæ  est  Angeli.  (Apoc.,  c.  21,  v.  17.)  Significat  eadem 
mensura  metiendam  esse  tam  Angeli  quam  hominis  beatitudinem  pro  magni- 
tudi ne  gratiæ  et  bonorum  actuum.  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  sur  ce  passage.)  Differentia 
gloriæ  erit  in  eis  semper  secundum  differentiam  meriti  præcedentis.  (S.  Tho¬ 
mas,  1,  q.  108,  art.  7.) 


8 


APPENDIX. 


87.  Cum  et  gratia  sit  semen  gloriæ.  (Suarez,  1.  5,  c.  4,  n.,10.) 

89.  Media  autem  ad  beatitudinem  consequendam  sunt  actus  liberi  et  morales, 
sicut  in  hominibus,  ita  et  in  Angelis.  (Suarez,  1.  5,  c.  1.  n.  11.) 

89.  Ut  velimus  operatur,  cum  autem  volumus,  ut  perficiamus,  nobis  cooperatur. 
(S.  Aug.,  de  Lib.  Arbilr.,  c.  17.) 

90.  Accedentem  ad  Peum  oportet  credere  quia  est.  (Aux  Hébreux,  c.  11.) 
Hoc  non  minus  Angelis  quam  hominibus  convenit.  (Suarez,  1.  5,  c.  6,  n.  2.) 

90.  Bicendum  est  cognovisse  Angelos  in  via  Trinitatis  mysterium  explicite 
magique  distincte  quam  nos  illud  cognoscamus.  Ita  docent  communitur  theo- 
logi.  (Suarez,  1.  5,  c.  6,  n.  4.  Concludicur  Angelos  explicite  credidisse  omnes 
articulos  divinitatis.  (Ibid.,  n.  5.) 

90.  Hoc  non  videtur  ita  ad  Angelos  sicut  ad  homines  pertinere...  Nihilominus 
longe  probabilius  judico  Angelos  omnes  in  via  mysterium  incarnationis  Yerbi 
Hei  per  divinam  revelationem  ac  fidem  cognovisse...  In  via  solum  cognoverunt 
obscure  illud  esse  futurum  et  in  confuso  ac  generatim  quale  esset  futurum. 
(Suarez,  1.  5,  c.  6.  n.  6,  9,  34.) 

91.  Decebat  Angelos  captivare  intellectus  suos  in  obsequium  Hei.  (Suarez, 
1.  5,  c.  5,  n.  8.) 

91.  Bail,  Théologie  affective.  Traité  des  Anges,  c.  10.) 

91.  Simul  ut  facti  sunt,  lux  facti  sunt.  (S.  Aug.,  Cité,  1.  11,  c.  11. 

91.  Angelica  voluntas  ut  statera  librata,  cum  in  utramque  declinare  partem 
valeret.)  Albert  le  Grand,  q.  6,  art.  3.) 

93.  Æqualis  felicitatis  omnes  ab  initio  creati  sunt,et  ita  fuerunt  donee  isti  qui 
nunc  sunt  mali,  ab  illo  bonitatis  lumine  sua  voluntate  cecidissent.  (S.  Aug., 
Cité,  1.  11,  c.  11.) 

93.  Prima  operatio  fuit  omnibus  communis,  sed  in  secunda  sunt  distincti;  et 
ideo  in  primo  instant!,  omnes  fuerunt  boni,  sed  in  secundo  fuerunt  boni  a  malis 
distincti.  (S.  Aug.,  de  Genesi  ad  letteram ,  c.  4  ;  S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  63,  art.  6.) 

93.  Perfectiones  horum  omnium,  utpote  superior,  ipse  in  se  continebat.  (S. 
Grég.,  Morales,  1.  32,  c.  18.) 

93.  Per  hasce  gemmas  intelliguntur  spirituales  gratiæ  et  ornamenta  Ange- 
lorum  ante  lapsum.  (Corn,  a  Lapide.) 

94.  Sigillum  regium  non  modo  regis  stemmata  insculpta  refert,  sed  etiam 
eadem  imprimit  in  aliis  rebus  quod  est  sigilli  seu  signaculi  proprium  munus. 
(Vivien,  Angélus.) 

94.  Tu  signaculum  similitudinis,  plenus  sapientia,  et  perfectus  decore,  in 
deliciis  paradisi  Dei  fuisti  ;  omnis  lapis  pretiosus  operimentum  tuum  :  Sardius, 
topazius  et  jaspis,  chrysolithus,  et  onyx,  et  berillus,  sapphirus,  et  carbuneulus, 
et  smaragdus:  aurum  opus  decoris  tui:  et  foramina  tua,  in  die  qua  conditus  es, 
præparata  sunt.  Tu  cherub  extentus,  et  protegens,  et  posui  te  in  monte  sancto 
Hei,  in  medio  lapidum  ignitorum  ambulasti.  Perfectus  in  viis  tuis  in  die  condi- 
tionis  tuæ,  donee  inventa  est  iniquitas  in  te.  (Ezechiel,  c.  28,  v.  12-15.) — La 
plupart  des  saints  Pères  considèrent  la  peinture  que  fait  Ezôchiel  de  la  puissance 
et  de  la  chute  du  roi  de  Tvr  comme  une  figure  de  l’ancienne  gloire  et  de  la  chute 
de  Lucifer.  (H’Allioli,  sur  ce  passage.) 

94.  Quoniam  sua  potestate  et  dignitate,  quam  a  Heo  acceperat,  sibi  plasuit. 
(S.  Ambroise,  Lettre  35.) 

95.  In  cœlum  conscendam  ;  supra  astra  Hei  exaltabo  solium  meum  ;  sedebo  in 


APPENDIX.  9 

monte  testamenti,  in  lateribus  aquilonis.  Ascendam  super  altitudinem  nubium  ; 
similis  ero  Altissimo.  (Isaïe,  c.  14,  v.  13,  14.) 

95.  S.  Bonaventure,  Disl.  5,  art.  1.) 

95.  Ipse  autem  in  livore  suo  invidit  et  molitus  est  babere  subjectos,  socTos,  de- 
dignatus.  (S.  Bernard.  Cant.,  Serin.  17.) 

95.  Quia  ipse  sibi  ad  beatam  vitam  sufficere  Toluit.  (S.  Aug.,  Cité ,  1. 12,  c.  1.) 

95.  Nullus  affectus  superbiæ  Lucifera  melius  per  ilia  verba  significatur  quam 
appetitus  dignitatis  Cbristi  per  hypostaiicam  unionem.  (Suarez,  1.  7,  c.  13,  n.  14.) 

96.  Ipse  est  rex:  super  omnes  fiiios  superbiæ.  (Job,  c.  41 ,  v.  25.) 

96.  Sedeboin  lateribus  Aquilonis.  (Isaïe,  c.  14,  et  Comment.) 

97.  Sanctum  Michaelem  esse  principem  Angeloi’um  omnium  ideoque  primum 
inter  Serapbinos  senserunt:  £>.  Basilius.  S  Pantaleo,  S.  Laurentius  Justinian  us, 
Paipertus,  Ambrosius  Catharinus,  Mohisa,  Yiegus,  Salmeron,  Bellarminus,  et-alii. 
Unde  Michael  dicitur  Archangelus,  non  quod  sit  de  ordine  Arcbangelorum,  sed 
quia  omnium  Angelorum  caput  et  dux  est.  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  in  Daniel ,  c.  10.) 

97.  Michael  hebraice  significat:  Quis  ut  Deus.  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  in  Apoc.,  e.  12.) 

Bum  superbum  sternls  hostem, 

Intonas:  Quis  ut  Deus? 

{Hymn.  Claromonlensis.) 

\ 

99.  Sedebo  in  monte  testamenti.  Oimpudens!  oimpudens!  Millia  milliem 
ministrant  et  decies  centena  millia  assistunt,  et  tu  sedebis?  (S.  Bernard,  Servi, 
sur  saint  Benoit.) 

99.  Si  inter  sidera  posueris  nidum  tuum,  inde  detraham  te,  dicit  Dominus. 
(Abdias,  e.  1,  v.  4.) 

100.  Cujus  æterno  imperio  liberaliter  quia  suaviter  serviunt.  (S.  Aug.,  contre 
Fauste,  1.  22,  c.  27.) 

101.  Ft  cauda  ejus  trabebat  tertiam  partem  stellarum  cceli.  (Apoc.,  e.  12.  v.  4.) 
Diabolus  novern  ordines  Angelorum  sub  sua  habuit  dominatione.  (S.  Jérôme, 
sur  le  Fs.  23.)  Haud  solus  cecidit,  verum  agmine  septus  ingenti.  (S.  Greg.  Naz., 
Carm.  6.)  Bonorum  longe  major  numerus  in  cœlestibus  suæ  naturæ  ordinem 
servans.  (S.  Aug.,  Cité,  1.  2,  c.  23.)  Communis  est  sententia  quod  tertia  pars  ex 
omnibus  Angelorum  ordinibus  ceciderit.  ( Theologia  Claromonlensis,  c.  3,  art.  2.) 

101.  Quomodo  cecidistide  cœlo,  Lucifer,  qui  mane  oriebaris?  (Isaïe,  c.  14,  v.  12.) 

101.  Ipsi  fuerunt  rebelles  lumini.  (Job,  c.  24,  v.  13.)  Dæmones,  per  voluntatem 
perversam,  subducentes  intellectum  a  divina  sapientia,  absolute  interdum  de 
rebus  judicant  secundum  naturalem  conditionem.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  58,  art.  5.) 

102.  Gerson,  Discours  sur  les  Anges. 

103.  Statim  post  unum  actum  cbaritate  informatum,  Angélus  beatus  fuit.  (S. 
Thomas,  1,  q.  63,  art.  6.) 

103.  Quomodo  contingunt  nobis  illi  motus  voluntatis  qui  vocantur  primo 
primi.  De  hoc  modo  volitionis  certuni  existimo  in  Angelis  naturaliter  non  re- 
periri.  (Suarez,  1,  3.  c,  4,  n.  16. 

103.  Cum  perfecta  vel  sufficienti  advertantia  intellectus  semper  operantur. 
(Suarez,  1.  3,  c.  4,  n.  16.) 

104.  Et  factum  est  prælium  magnum  in  cœlo;  Michael  et  Angeli  ejus  prælia- 
bantur  cum  dracone  et  draco  pugnabat  et  Angeli  ejus.  (Apoc.,  e.  12,  v.  7.) 

105.  Certamen  angelicum,  quo,  vel  dimicantium  multitudine,  vel  ducum  aucto- 


10 


APPENDIX. 


ritate,  vel  bellandi  causa  et  ratione,  Tel  belli  genere,  vel  loci  dignitate,  vel  profli- 
gatorum  clade,  vel  victorum  præmio  et  munere,  nullum  unquam  fuit  acrius 
nullumve  memorabilius.  (Vivien,  sur  saint  Michel.) 

105.  Quid  homines  cum  Angelis  nisi  Pygmæi  vel  Mirmidones  cum  gigantibus 
comparati?  (Vivien,  sur  saint  Michel.) 

106.  Certamen  est  inter  intellectum  et  intellectus,  voluntatem  et  voluntatem. 
(Vivien,  sur  saint  Michel.) 

106.  Angeli  decor  sapientia  est  ;  sed  perdidit  earn,  cum  lecit  suam.  (S.  Ber¬ 
nard,  Serm.  74.) 

106.  Inde  privatus  est  apostata  Angelus,  dum  fortitudinem  suam,  non  a  Deo, 
sed  a  se  voluit  constare.  (S.  Eucher,  sur  la  Genèse,  c.  1. 

107.  Et  non  valuerunt,  neque  locu3  inventus  est  eorum  amplius  in  cœlo. 
(Apoc.,  c.  12,  v.  8.) 

108.  Ille  ob  splendorem  Lucifer,  ob  superbiam  caligo  factus  est.  (S.  Grég. 

Naz.,  Or  at.  42.)  t 

108.  Ecce  draco  magnus...  Draco  stedit ..  Draco  pugnabat...  Præliabantur  cum 
dracone...  projectus  est  draco.  (Apoc.,  c.  12.) 

109.  Quid  tarn  pœnale  quam  semper  velle  quod  nunquam  erit  et  semper  nolle 
quod  nunquam  non  erit?  (S.  Bernard,  Consid.,  L  5,  c.  12.) 

110.  Desertores  Angeli,  licet  mortui  sint  peccando,  tamen  non  sic  mori  potue- 
runt  ut  omnino  disinerint  vivere  atque  sentire.  (S.  Aug.,  Cité,  1.  14,  c.  24.) 

110.  Væ  oppositis  voluntatibus  solam  suæ  profecto  aversionis  referentibus 
poenam  !  (S.  Bernard,  Cons.,  1.  5,  c.  12.) 

110.  Bossuet,  Sermon  sur  les  démons. 

111.  Fides  catholica  docet  unum  esse  locum  corporeum  a  Deo  ad  punitioncm 
damnatorum,  sive  dæmonum,sive  hominum,  deputatum.  (Suarez,  1. 8,  c.  16,  n.2. 

Per  me  si  va  nella  città  dolente: 

Per  me  si  va  nell’  eterno  dolore  : 

Per  me  si  va  tra  la  perduta  gente. 

Giustizia  mosse’l  mio  alto  fattore: 

Fecemi  la  divina  potestate, 

La  somma  sapienza,  e’l  primo  amore. 

Dinanzi  a  me  non  fur  cose  create, 

Se  non  eterne,  ed  io  eterno  duro:  ' 

Lasciate  ogni  speranza,  voi  ch’entrate. 

(Dante,  Enfer,  c.  3.) 

111.  Ite...  in  ignem  æternum  qui  paratus  est  diabolo  et  Angelis  ejus.  (S.  Matth., 
c.  25,  v.  41.) 

112.  Non  est  dubium  quin  spiritus  damnati  ex  lege  Dei  æterna  alligati  sint 
igni  gehennæ  tanquam  perpetuo  carceri.  (Suarez,  1.  8,  c.  14,  n.  5.) 

113.  Klopstock,  la  Messiade,  chant  19. 

114.  Quod  hominibus  est  mors  Angelis  est  casus.  (S.  Jean.  Damas.,  de  la  Foi , 
1.  2,  c.  4;  S.  Grég.  de  Nysse,  1.  1,  Phil.,  c.  3.) 

114.  Révélations  de  sainte  Gertrude. 

114.  Dæmon  Deum  odio  habet,  aut  per  generalem  ac  formalem  actum  odii,  aut 
per  voluntates  particulars  blasphemandi,  maledicendi,  aut  inferendi  Deo  inju- 


APPENDIX. 


11 


riam,  aut  malum  aliquod  saltern  extrinsecum  procurando,  aut  etiam  odio  ha- 
bendo  Deurn  in  creatura  sua,  præsertim  in  homine.  (Suarez,  1.  8,  c.  11,  n.  20.) 

114.  Corruptio  optimi  pessima. 

115.  Actus  dæmonis  ex  voluntate  libera  procedens  semper  est  malus.  Etsi 
aliquando  aliquod  bonum  i’aciat,  non  tamen  bene  facit.  (S.  Thomas,  q.  64,  art.  2.) 
Nullum  in  eis  voluntatis  bonæ  remansit  vestigium.  (S.  Fulgentius,  de  Trinit., 

c.  a.) 

115.  Réponse  d’un  démon  dans  un  exorcisme. 

116.  Deus  Angelis  peccantibes  non  pepercit.  (S.  Pierre,  Epît.  2,  c.  2,  v.  4.) 
Nunquam  enim  Angelos  appreheudit.  (Hebr.,  c.  2,  v.  16.) 

116.  Peccatum  dæmonis  est  gravius  quam  peccatum  hominis.  (S.  Thomas,  1, 
q.  64,  art.  3.) 

116.  Tanto  damnâbilior  judicata  est  culpa,  quanto  erat  natura  sublimior.  (S. 
Au  g.,  sur  saint  Jean,  110.) 

116.  Angélus  ob  summam  mentis  perspicacitatem  plena  voluntate  peccavit. 
(Cassien,  Conf.,  4,  c.  3.) 

117.  Homo  fragilis  per  imbecillitatem  carnis  peccavit:  Angélus  vero  purus 
vegetusque  est  spiritus.  (S.  Jean  Damasc.,  de  la  Foi,  1.  2,  c.  3.) 

117.  Angélus,  nulio  suadente  peccavit,  homo  autem,  suadente  diabolo.  (S. 
Grég.,  Morales,  1.  4,  c.  9.) 

117.  In  Angelis  non  est  lapsa  tota  natura,  sed  pars  illius:  in  homine  vero  tota 
natura  lapsa  est.  (S.  Aug.,  Enchiridion,  c.  29.) 

117.  Quid  tarn  opus  habens  misericordia  quam  miser?  Et  quid  tam  indignum 
quam  superbus  miser?  (S.  Aug.,  du  Libre  Arbitre,  1.  3,  c.  10.) 

118.  Ut  beatitudo  sanctorum  eis  magis  complaceat  et  de  ea  uberiores  gratias 
Deo  agant,  datur  eis  ut  pœnam  impiorum  perfecte  videant.  (S.  Thomas,  Suppl., 
q.  94,  art.  1.) 

119.  In  altis  Angeli  sunt  :  Tibi  debent  quod  sunt;  tibi  debent  quod  vivunt  ; 
tibi  debent  quod  juste  vivunt;  tibi  debent  quod  beate  vivunt.  (S.  Aug.,  sur  le 
Fs  70.) 

121.  Ipse  speciosis  induitur  vestibus,  quia  sanctorum  Angelorum  choros  quos 
condidit,  in  usum  sui  decoris  assumpsit.  (S.  Grégoire,  Morales  ;  sur  Job,  1.  32.) 

123.  Ultima  et  perfecta  beatitudo  non  potest  esse  nisi  in  visione  divinæ  essen- 
tiæ.  (S.  Thom.,  1,  2,  q.  3,  art.  8.) 

123.  Sur  ces  deux  connaissances.  (S.  Aug.,  Cité ,  1.  11,  c.  9,  et  sur  la  Genèse,  1.  4, 
c.  18  ;  S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  58,  art.  6.) 

124.  Et  vere  quid  opus  scalis  tene"ti  jam  solium.  (S.  Bern.,  Cons.,  1.  5,  c.  1.) 
124.  Si  autem  eognitio  non  referatur  in  Deum,  sicut  in  dæmonibus,  non  dici- 

tur  vespertina,  sed  nocturna.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  64,  art.  1.) 

124.  Ibi  legunt,  sine  syllabis  temporum,  quid  velit  æterna  voluntas.  Semper 
legunt  et  nunquam  præterit  quod  legunt.  Non  clauditur  codex  eorum  nec  pli- 
catur  liber  eorum,  quia  tu  illis  hoc  es  et  es  in  æternum.  (S.  Aug.,  Confess.,  1.  13, 
c.  15.) 

124.  Impossibile  est  quod  aliquis  intellectus  creatus  per  sua  naturalia  essentiam 
Dei  videat.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  12,  art.  4.) 

125.  Cum  virtus  naturalis  intellectus  creati  non  sufficiat  ad  Dei  essentiam 
videndam,  oportet  quod  ex  divina  gratia  super  accrescat  ei  virtus  intelligendi.  Et 


12 


APPENDIX. 


hoc  augmentum  virtutis  intellectivæ  illuminationem  intellectus  vocamus,  sicut 
et  ipsum  intelligibile  vocatur  lumen  vel  lux.  (s.  Thomas,  1,  q.  12,  art.  5.)  Lu¬ 
men  illud  in  immensum  animam  dilatat  ut  fiat  capax  divinitatis.  (Lessius,  de 
Summo  Bono ,  1.  2,  c.  16.) 

125.  Lumen  divinæ  gloriæ  confortans  intellectum  ad  videndum  Deum.  (S. 
Thomas,  1,  q.  12.  art.  2.) 

125.  Visio  est  expressa  divinitatis  imago  earn  quodammodo  adæquans.  (Les¬ 
sius,  de  Summo  Bono,  1.  2,  c.  16.) 

126.  Quod  oculus  non  vidit,  nec  auris  audivit,  nec  in  cor  hominis  ascendit,  quæ 
præparavit  Deus  iis  qui  diligunt  ilium.  (S.  Paul  aux  Corinth.,  EpU.  1,  c.  2,  v  9.) 

127.  Præclare  ergo  Aristoteles:  Si  essent,  inquir,  qui  sub  terra  semper  habita- 
vissent...  Nec  tameu  venissent  unquam  supra  terrain;  accepissent  autem  fama 
et  auditione  esse  quoddam  nurnen  et  vim  Deorum  ;  deinde  aliquo  tempore  pate- 
factis  terræ  faucibus,  ex  illis  abditis  sedibus  evadere  in  hæc  loca  quæ.  nos  inco- 
limus  atque  exire  potuissent:  quum  repente  terram  et  maria  cœlumque  vidis- 
sent...  Adspexissentque  solem  ejusque  turn  magnitudinem  pulchritudinemque, 
turn  etiam  efficientiam  cognovissent  quod  is  diem  efficeret,  toto  cœlo  luce  diffusa; 
quum  autem  terras  nox  opacasset,  turn  cœlum  totum  cernerent  astrisdistinctum 
et  ornatum...  Hæc  quum  vidèrent,  profecto  et  esse  deos  et  hæc  tanta  opera  deo¬ 
rum  esse  arbitrarentur.  (Cicéron,  de  la  Nature  des  Dieux,  1.  2,  c.  37.) 

128.  Cum  eœperit  anima  circuire  lucidas  mansiones  et  sinum  ilium  Abrahæ 
curiosius  perscrutari.  (S.  Bern.,  Cons.,  1.  5,  c.  4.) 

128.  Sicut  audivimus,  sic  vidamus.  (Ps.  47,  v.  9.) 

132.  Amor  est  impetus  quidam  in  divinitatem  immergens.  (Lessius,  de  Summo 
Bono,  1.  2,  c.  16.) 

133.  Angeli  vident  Deum  per  essentiam  et  tamen  non  omnia  sciunt.  (S.  Tho¬ 
mas,  1,  q.  12,  art.  8.) 

133.  Nullus  autem  intellectus  creatus  totaliter  Deum  comprehendere  potest. 
(S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  12,  art.  8.) 

f  133.  Ipsi  etiam  nesciunt  futura  contingentia.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  12,  art.  8.) 

133.  De  die  auiem  ilia  et  hora  nemo  scit,  neque  Angeli  cœlorum,  nisi  solus 
pater.  (S.  Matthieu,  c.  24,  v.  36.) 

134.  Prævius  rerum  cognitor  solus  est  Deus:  nec  enim  Angeli  futura  videre 
possunt.  (S.  Athanase,  à  Antiochus ,  c.  27.) 

134.  Cordium  cognitio  solius  Dei  est  qui  ea  lormavit.  (S.  Jean  Chrysostome, 
sur  saint  Jean,  1.  2,  c.  19.)  Ipsi  etiam  nesciunt  cogitationes  cordium,  hoc  enim 
solius  Dei  est.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  12,  art.  S.) 

134.  Angeli  non  cognoscunt  mysteria  gratiæ.  Si  unus  Angélus  non  potest 
cognoscere  cogitationes  alterius  ex  voluntate  ejus  dependentes,  multo  minus 
potest  cognoscere  ea  quæ  ex  sola  Dei  voluntate  dependent.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  57, 
art.  5.) 

134.  Hoc  ipsum  quod  videant  bonum  suum  esse  tantum  ut  illud  suo  amore 
suaque  contemplatione  non  possint  exæquare,  non  eos  afiligit,  sed  miro  gaudio 
perfundit.  (Lessius,  de  Summo  Bono,  1.  2,  c.  12.) 

136.  In  statu  beatitudinis  non  minus  debet  elevari  voluntas  in  Deum  quam 
intellectus,  sed  pari  modo  et  æque  eminenter  et  admirabiliter.  (Lessius,  de 
Summo  Bono,  1.  2,  c.  12.) 

136.  Non  erunt  volubiles  nostræ  cogitationes  ab  aliis  in  alia  euntes  atque  re- 


i 


APPENDIX.  13 

deuntes,  sed  omnem  scientiam  nostram  uno  simul  conspectu  videbimus.  (S. 
Aug.,  de  la  Trinité ,  c.  16.) 

137.  Sic  motus  quibus  a  Deo  moventur  fiunt  creaturis  connaturales  et  faciles. 
(S.  Thomas,  1,  2,  q.  110,  art.  2.) 

138.  Delectabitur  oculus  in  amabili  Redemntoris  aspectu,  cum  videbit  regem  in 
decore  suo  gloria  ornatum  et  diademate  redimitum.  (S.  I  aurent.  Justinianus, 
de  Diseiplin.,  1.  3.)  Lux  oculos  corporeos  beatorum  illuminans  et  recreans  est 
splendidissima  et  glorioissima  Christi  kumanitas.  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  sur  l’Apoc.,  c. 
21,  v.  23.) 

138.  Corpus  præmiabitur  propter  mérita.  Ergo  et  omnes  sensus  præmiabuntur. 
(S.  Thomas,  SuppL,  q.  84,  art.  4.)  Ex  ipsa  beatitudine  animæ  fiet  quædarn  reflu- 
entia  in  corpus  et  in  sensus  corporeos  ut  in  suis  operationibus  perficiantur.  (S. 
Thomas,  1,  2,  q.  3,  art.  3.) 

138.  In  Angelis  beatis  remanet  cognitio  et  dilectio  naturalis.  (S.  Thomas,  1, 
q.  62,  art.  7.) 

140.  Existimare  possumus  Angelum  quempiam  divina  mandata  exhaurientem. 
(Olympiodore,  sur  Job,  c.  1.) 

141.  Pulchritudo  divina  infinite  omnem  angelicam  superat.  [Ipsa  enim  est 
fons  omnis  pulchritudinis  quæ  in  rebus  creatis  reperitur  et  tota  rerum  creata- 
rum  pulchritudo  nihil  aliud  est  quam  tenuis  quædarn  adumbratio  et  veluti  rudis 
delineatio  pulchritudinis  divinæ.  (Lessius,  de  Summo  Bono.  1.  2,  c.  16.) 

141.  Angeli  mira  pulckritudine  præditi  sunt.  (Vivien,  Angelus.) 

141.  Movent  vos  ista?  Movent  plane.  Quare?  Quia  pulchra  sunt.  Quid  est 
qui  fecit?  Puto  rehebesceretis  si  videretis  pulchritudinem  Angelorum.  Quid 
est  ergo  Creator  Angelorum?  (S.  Aug.,  Serm.  19.) 

142.  Platon,  Cicéron,  S.  Augustin. — “Evidemment  la  beauté  de  la  forme  dérive 
de  la  beauté  du  type  ;  elle  emprunte  de  lui  tout  ce  qu’elle  a  de  réalité  ;  et, 
quoique  la  forme  distincte  du  type  n’en  dépende  pas  dans  son  existence  maté¬ 
rielle,  séparée  de  l’idée  qui  l’animait,  elle  ressemble  à  un  corps  dont  la  vie  s’est 
retirée.”  (Lamennais,  de  l’Art  et  du  Beau.) 

142.  Splendescenti  animo  præfulget  in  superficie  corporis  decor,  spem  afferens 
multo  melioris.  (Maxime  de  Tyr,  Serm.  10.) 

143.  Carenti a  pulchritudinis  debitæ.  (S.  Thomas.) 

144.  Angelico  da  Fiesole. 

144.  Angelus  est  speculum  suscipiens  totam,  si  fas  est  dicere,  pulchritudinem 
Dei.  (S.  Denis,  des  Noms  divins.) 

144.  Vie  de  sainte  Thérèse. 

144.  Si  videres  pulchritudinem  sanctorum  Angelorum  sicutiest,  cor  tuurn  pree 
ingenti  gaudio  rumperetur.  ( Révélations  de  sainte  Brigitte ,  Bollandistes.) 

145.  Lumen  gloriæ  est  quædarn  participatio  lucis  increatæ  et  superessentialis. 
(I  essius,  d Summo  Bono,  1.  2,  c.  8.) 

145.  Et  audiens  jacebam  consternatus  super  faciem  meam,  et  vultus  meus  hæ- 
rebat  terræ  Et  ecce  manus  tetigit  me,  et  erexit  me  super  genua  mea  et  super 
articulos  manum  mearum.  (Daniel,  c.  10,  v.  9, 10.) 

145.  Et  cecidi  ante  pedes  ejus,  ut  adorarem  eum.  Et  dicit  mihi:  Vide  ne  fec- 
eris:  conservus  tuus  sum.  (Apoc.,c.  19,  v.  10.) 

146.  Pulchritudo  justorum  solis  pulchritudini,  qui  septuplo  quam  modo  splen- 
dior  erit,  adæquabitur.  (S.  Anselme,  de  Simüilud.,  c.  50.) 


14 


APPENDIX. 


146.  Angeli  apparent  tibi  In  similitudine  hominum  quia  spiritus  tuus  adhuc 
impeditus  aliter  illos  capere  non  posset.  {Le  livre  des  Révélations  de  sainte  Bri¬ 
gitte.) 

146.  Angelorum  conspectus  amicis  res  jucundissima  esse  solet.  (Procopa  de 
Gaza,  sur  les  Nombres.) 

146.  Insulam  totam  Angelorum  claritudine  in  spiritu  vidi  irradiatam  totaque 
spa  ia  acris  usque  ad  æthera  cœlorum  eorumdem  Angelorum  claritudine  illus- 
trata.  (  Vie  de  saint  Colomban,  par  Adamnan.) 

146.  Pi-obos  insolita  consolatione  afiiciunt  summaque  anima  tranquillitate  ac 
lætitia  spiritali  perfundunt.  (Corderus,  sur  Job,  c.  4,  v.  14.) 

147.  Ipse  enim  Satanas  transfigurât  se  in  Angelum  lucis.  (S.  Paul  aux  Co¬ 
rinth.,  Epit.  2,  cap.  11,  v.  14.) 

147.  Majoribus  potius  eum  tenebris  involvunt  ac  perturbant  magis  quod  sig- 
num  evidens  est  corum  malignitatis.  (Corderus,  sur  Job,  c.  4,  v^l4.) 

149.  Les  Merveilles  du  Laus,  dans  le  diocèse  de  Gap,  par  M.  l’abbe  Pron. 

149.  Vie  de  sainte  Cécile,  Bollandistes. 

149.  Ipsæ  sunt  vites  et  vineæ  quæ  odorem  suum  unicumque  animæ  imperliunt. 
(Origène,  Horn.  4.) 

150.  Suavitate  cœlestis  odoris  fœtorem  ab  eis  mortalitatis  corruptionisque  de- 
pellunt.  (Origène,  Hom.  4.) 

150.  In  Angelorum  conspectu,  nil  sordidum,  nil  fætet  obscœnum,  nisi  vitium 
et  peccatum.  (S.  Pierre  Damien,  Opusc .,  23.) 

150.  Hune  Angélus  fœtorem  et  inhonestam  purulentiæ  nauseam  invitus  satis 
et  graviter  tolérât,  etsi  cœlestis  imperii  lege  constrictus  obedientiam  non  omit- 
tat.  (S.  Pierre  Damien,  Opusc.,  23.) 

150.  S.  Philippe  de  Néri,  Ste  Catherine  de  Sienne,  St0  Gentilis,  S.  Euthyme,  S. 
Eugende. 

151.  Sicut  aromata  quo  magis  conteruntur  eo  majorem  spirant  fragrantiam. 
ita  Christus,  apostoli,  martyres,  omnesque  sancti  quo  magis  persecutionibus  et 
tribulationibus  pressi  et  quasi  contriti  fuerunt  eo  suaviorem  virtutissuæ  sparse- 
runt  odorem  (Corn,  a  Lap.) 

151.  Fragrans  suavitas  cœlestium  odoramentorum  mira  liquefactione  resperget 
odoratum.  (S.  Laurent  Justinien,  de  Discipl.,  1.  23.) 

152.  Instar  chordarum  citharæ  apte  compositarum  per  universam  Ecclesiam 
cæterumque  primogenitorum  in  cœlo  descriptorum  late  circumsonant.  (S. 
André  de  Césarée,  sur  VApoc.) 

152.  Tange  illas  purissimas  chordas:  in  cœlo  nihil  triste  unquam  sonuerunt. 
(S.  Anselme,  Médit.,  13  ) 

152.  Vies  de  saint  Rigoberf,  de  sainte  Véronique  de  Binasco,  de  sainte  Justine,  de 
saint  Fursêe,  de  sainte  Prisque,  de  saint  Genulphe,  de  saint  Thêogène,  de  sainte  Mai  - 
line,  de  saint  Maur. 

153.  O  qualis  musica  !  o  quam  dulcis  et  suavis  harmonia  !  Quis  tantorum 
cantorum  modulatas  cantilenas  valeat  explicare?  Si  nos,  in  hac  vita,  vocum 
humanarum  et  chordarum  aut  organorum  concentus  ab  horninibus  inventus  et 
exquisitus  sic  delectat  et  rapit,  quid  faciet  ilia  musica  quam  non  humana  peri- 
tia,  sed  angelica  format  industria?  Quæ  non  corporis  vocibus  foris  perstrepit, 
sed  interioribus  att'ectibus  interius  dulcescit  tanto  utique  suavius  quanto  inti- 
mius.  (S.  Thomas  de  Villeneuve,  Serm.  sur  saint  Michel.) 


APPENDIX. 


15 


154.  Légende  du  frère  Alphius. 

158.  Angeti  eorum  in  cœlis  semper  vident  faciem  patr's  mei  qui  in  cœlis  est. 
(S.  Matth.,  c.  18,  v.  10.)  In  quem  desiJerant  Angeli  prospicere.  (I  S.  Pierre,  c. 

1,  v.  12  ) 

158  Ne  sit  in  desiderio  anxietas,  desiderantes  satiantur;  ne  autem  sit  in  sati- 
etate  fastidiuoi,  satiati  desiderant.  (S.  Grég.,  Morales ,  1.  18,  c.  27.) 

159.  Sequitur  ad  rationem  perfeetæ  beatitudinis  non  solum  pertinere  visîonem, 
amorem  et  fruitionem,  sed  etiam  horum  perpetuitatem  et  cognitionem  hujus 
perpetuitatis.  (Lessius,  de  Summo  Bono ,  h  3,  c.  9.) 

159.  Quamvis  mutabiles  facti  fuerint  per  naturam,  immutabiles  sunt  facti  per 
gratiam.  Stabiles  etiam  et  certi  de  sua  beatitudine  nullatenus  amittenda,  fru- 
untur  Deo  cujus  contemplat.ione  beati  sunt.  (S.  Fulgence,  de  Trinit.,  c.  8.) 

160.  Hoc  modo  se  babet  Angélus,  videns  Deum,  ad  ipsum,  sicut  se  habet  qui- 
cumque  non  videns  Deum  ad  communem  rationem  boni.  (S.  Thomas.  1,  q.  62, 
art.  8.) 

160.  Angeli  quo  perfectiores  et  majori  charitate  præditi  sunt,  eo  trahumur  po- 
tentius  et  omnium  potentissime  anima  Christi.  (Lessius,  de  Summo  Bono ,  1.  2, 
c.  13.) 

160.  Angelica  voluntas  pondéré  amoris  ad  centrum,  hoc  est  ad  Deum,  perve- 
niens  immobilis  reddita  est.  (Albertus  Magnus,  p.  1,  q.  6,  art.  3.) 

162.  Tenui  eum  nec  dimittam.  (Tant.,  c.  3,  v.  4.) 

162.  Certus  sum  enim  quia  neque  mors,  neque  vita,neque  Angeli,  neque  Prin- 
cipatus,  neque  Yirtutes,  neque  instantîa,  neque  futura,  neque  fortitudo,  neque 
altitudo,  neque  profundum,  neque  creatura  alia  poterit  nos  separare  a  charitate 
Dei  quæ  est  in  Christo  Jesu  Domino  nostro.  (S.  Paul  aux  Domains,  c.  8,v.  38, 39.) 

162.  Angeli  beati  non  possunt  mereri  nec  in  beatitudine  proficere.  (3.  Thomas, 

1,  q.  62,  art.  9.) 

164.  Sicut  Deus  ipse,  licet  omnia  ilia  videat  et  plus  se  amet  quam  ab  Angelis 
diligatur,  de  suis  offensis  nihil  contristatur.  (Suarez,  1.  6,  c.  20,  n.  12.) 

164.  Unde  locutiones  illæ  sanctorum  per  metaphoram  intelligendæ  sunt:  sicut  _ 
etiam  solet  hujusmodi  affeetus  tribui  Deo  ad  significandam  erga  homines  chari- 
tatem  et  qaantum  impietas  illi  displiceat.  (Suarez,  1.  6,  c.  20,  n.  12.) 

164.  Hoc  gaudium  ad  præmium  accidentale  pertinet.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q t  62, 
art.  9.) 

164.  Prædictum  gaudium  acquiritur  ex  virtute  beatitudinis.  (S.  Thomas,  1, 
q.  62,  art.  9. 

164.  Hoc  gaudium  augeri  potest  usque  ad  diem  judicii.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  62, 
art.  9.) 

165.  Ipse  est  Deus  hoster  maxima  mansio  spirituum  beatorum.  (S.  Bern.,  de 
la  Consid.,  1.  1,  c.  1.) 

165.  In  domo  patris  mei  mansiones  multæ  sunt.  (S.  Jean,  c.  14,  v.  2.) 

165.  Stella  enim  a  Stella  differt  in  claritate.  (S.  Paul,  lre  Epître  aux  Corin¬ 
thiens,  c.  15,  v.  41.) 

166.  Ita  patres  contra  Jovinianum,  qui,  uti  censebat  virtutes  esse  pares,  sic  et 
paria  eorum  fore  præmia  in  cœlo.  (Corn,  a  Lap.) 

166.  Facilitas  videndi  Deum  competit  intellectui  creato  per  lumen  gloriæ  quod 
intellectual  in  quadam  Deiformitate  constituit.  Unde  intellectus  plus  partici- 


16 


APPENDIX. 


pans  de  lumine  gloriæ,  perfectius  Deum  videbit.  Plus  autem  participabit  de 
luinine  gloriæ  qui  plus  habet  de  charitate.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  12,  art.  6.) 

167.  Fit  per  charitatem  ut  quod  habent  singuli  commune  sit  omnibus.  Sic 
enim  quisque  etiam  ipse  habet  cum  amat  in  altero  quod  ipse  habet.  (S.  Aug.) 
In  ilia  cœlesti  patria  nihil  possidetur  singular  iter.  In  multis  mansionibus  erit 
retributionum  diversitas  concurs:  quia  tanta  vis  amoris  in  ilia  pace  nos  sociat 
ut  quod  quisque  in  se  non  acceperit,  hoc  se  accepisse  in  alio  exultât.  (S.  Grég. 
le  Grand,  Morales,  1.  4,  c.  31.) 

167.  Nihil  est  concordiæ  comparandum;  unus  enim  quasi  multiplicatur  ;  si 
concordes  fuerint  duo  aut  decern,  unus  non  est  unus,  sed  illorum  quisque  multi¬ 
plex  redditur,  inveniesque  in  decern  unum  atque  in  uno  decern.  (S.  Maximus, 
de  Amove,  fralerno.) 

163.  Eellum  illud  initum  in  cœlo  inter  Angelos,  non  est  ibi  omnino  absolutum, 
sed  in  hoc  mundo  pro  salute  hominum  iterum  in  paradiso  inchoatum,  sue  reno- 
vatum  est,  et  usque  ad  finem  sæculi  persévérât,  et  tunc  maxime  ardebit.  (Sua¬ 
rez,  1.  6,  c.  10,  n.  27.) 

168.  Mala  in  ordinem  reducta  faciunt  ad  decorem  universi.  (S.  Aug.,  de  Or - 
dine ,  1.  2,  c.  4.) 

171.  Dæmonibus  duplex  locus  pœnalis  debetur  :  unus  quidem  ratione  suæ 
culpæ,  et  hic  est  infernus;  alius  autem  ratione  exercitationis  humanæ,  et  sic 
debetur  eis  caliginosus  aer.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  64,  art.  4.)  Certissimum  est  etiam 
nunc  dæmonum  multitudinem  in  hoc  aere  versari.  (Suarez,  1.  8,  c.  17,  n.  7.) 

171.  De  solo  Lucifero  probabilissimum  est  ligatura  esse  per  Christi  imperium 
in  inferno  corporeo  et  locali.  (Suarez,  1.  8,  c.  17,  n.  9.) 

171.  Dæmones,  imitantes  legiones  angelicas,  dicunt  se  legionem,  immo  imi¬ 
tantes  et  æmulantes  Deum  ipsum  qui  vocatur  Dominus  Sabaoth,  id  est,  exerci- 
tuum  et  legionum  angelicarum.  Lucifer  enim  est  simia  Dei.  (S.  Grégoire  de 
Nysse.) 

172.  S.  Vincent  Ferrier,  Sermons. 

172.  Longe  probabilius  videtur  nullos  dæmones  esse  semper  in  inferno  alli- 
gatos,  nec  alios  ita  esse  in  hoc  aere  ut  nunquam  in  inferno  descendant,  sed 
alternatis  vicibus,  nunc  istos  in  altero  ex  dictis  locis  versari.  (Suarez,  1.  8,  c.  17, 
n.  2.) 

172.  Tam  superbi  sunt  ut  honores  divinos  et  religionis  servitutem  quam  vero 
Deo  deberi  sciunt,  sibi  sategerint  exhiberi,  et  quantum  possunt  et  apud  quos 
possunt  adhuc  agunt.  (S.  Aug.,  Cité,  1.  9,  c.  20.) 

172.  Ille  homicida  erat  ab  initio.  (S.  Jean,  c.  8,  v.  44.) 

1 

173.  Ai^rogavit  sibi  honorera  divinum  et  omnibus  dæmoniis  et  implevit  templa 
paganorum  et  persuasit  ilia  sacrifieia  offeri  sibi.  (S.  Aug.,  sur  le  Psaume  96.) 
Diabolus  totum  sæculum  mendacio  divinitatis  implevit.  (Tertull.,  Contre  Mar- 
cion ,  b.  17.) 

173.  Concordia  dæmonum  non  est  ex  amicitia  quam  inter  se  habeant.sed  ex 
communi  nequitia  qua  homines  odiunt  et  justitiæ  Dei  repugnant.  (S.  Thomas, 
1,  q.  109,  art.  2.) 

173.  Quod  autem  superioribus  inferiores  subdantur,  non  est  ad  bonum  supe- 
riorum,  sed  magis  ad  malum  eorum  ;  quia  cum  mala  facere  maxime  ad  miseriam 
pertineat,  præesse  in  malis  est  esse  magis  miserum.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  109,  art.  2,) 

173.  Portant  secum  ignem  gehennæ,  quocumque  vadant.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  64, 
art.  2.) 


APPENDIX.  17 

174.  Hoc  gaudium  non  verum  seel  phantasticum  est,  dum  impletur  id  quod  de- 
siderant.  (S.  Thomas.) 

174.  Aduror!  aduror!  exclamabat  dæmon  in  exorcismo.  (Vie  de  sainte  Marie 
Madeleine  de  Pazzi.  Bollandistes.) 

174.  Judicio  retributionis  judicabuntur,  quantum  ad  mérita  mala  hominum 
quos  ad  male  merendum  induxerint.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  89,  art.  8.) 

175.  Post  diem  judicii  omnes  mali,  tarn  homines  quam  Angeli,  in  inferno 
erunt.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  64,  art.  4.)  Habebunt  miseriam  undique  consummatam. 
(Suarez,  1.  8,  c.  15,  n.  16.) 

175.  Et  rogabant  ilium  ne  imperaret  illis  ut  in  abyssum  irent.  Erat  autem  ibi 
grex  poreorum  multorum  pascentium  in  monte  :  et  rogabant  eum  ut  permitteret 
eis  in  illos  ingredi.  (S.  Luc.,  c.  8,  v.  31,  32.) 

177.  Antichristus  faciet  miracula,  non  vera,  sed  falsa  et  mendacia.  Multa 
enim  ex  his  miraculis  erunt  præstigiæ  quibus  fascinabit  oculos  ut  videatur  fa- 
cere  id  quod  revera  non  faciet.  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  Comment,  in  Sam  Epist.  ad  Thessal., 
c.  2,  v.  9.) 

177.  Sed  licet  nos,  aut  Angélus  de  cœlo  evangelizet  vobis  præterquam  quod 
eyangelizavimus  vobis,  anathema  sit.  (S.  Paul  aux  Galates,  c.  1,  v.  8.) 

178.  Consurget  Michael  princeps  magnus  qui  stat  pro  filiis  populi  sui.  (Daniel, 
c.  12,  v.  1.) 

178.  Et  tunc  revelabitur  ille  iniquus  quem  Dominus  Jesus  interficiet  spiritu 
oris  sui  et  destruet  iilustratione  adventus  sui.  (S.  Paul  aux  Thessal.,  c.  2.  v.  8.) 

178.  Mox  antichristum  terra  dehiscet  viyumque  eum  rapient  dæmones  in  tar- 
tara.  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  sur  le  chap.  19  de  V Apocalypse.) 

179.  Infirmant  et  constrictam  excedentes  nostrorum  materialium  numerorum 
commensurationem.  (S.  Denys,  de  la  Céleste  Hiérarchie ,  c.  14.)  Eorum  copias 
numéro  quodam  esse  infinitas.  (S,  Grég.  de  Nysse,  de  Opificio  hom.,  c.  17.)  Su- 
pernortim  civium  numerus  infinitus  et  definitus  exprimitur,  ut  qui  Deo  est  nu- 
merabilis,  esse  hominibus  innumerabilis  demonstretur.  (S.  Greg.,  Morales, 
1. 17,  c.  9.) 

179.  Antiquus  dierum  sedit...  Millia  millium  ministrabant  ei  et  decies  millies 
centena  millia  assistebant  ei.  (Daniel,  c.  7,  y.  10.) 

179.  Currus  Dei  decem  millibus  multiplex,  millia  lætantium.  (Ps.  67,  v.  18.) 
Currus  quo  veheba  ur  Deus  erartt  millia  sanctorum  Angelorum  quæ  omnia  non 
erunt  gementia  sub  pondéré  sed  lætantia  et  plaudentia  præ  yoluptate  vehendi 
Dontinum.  (Bellarmin,  sur  ce  psaume.) 

179.  Et  audivi  vocem  Angelorum  multorum  in  circuitu  throniet  erat  numerus 
eorum  millia  millium.  (Apoc.  c.  5,  y.  11.) 

180.  Numquid  est  numerus  militum  ejus?  (Job,  c.  25,  y.  3.) 

180.  Nolite  timere,  pusillus  grex.  (S.  Lue,  c.  12,  v.  32.) — Grex  hominum  fide- 
lium  est  pusillus  grex,  si  conferatur  cum  Angelis  qui  sunt  innumeri.  (Euthy- 
mius.) 

180.  Dives  Pater  cujus  centesima  portio  sumus,  habet  Angelorum,  Archange- 
lorum  aliorumque  innumerabiles  greges.  (S.  Ambroise,  sur  saint  Luc,  c.  15.) 

180.  Decem  ergo  drachmas  habtfit,  quia  novem  sunt  ordines  Angelorum  ;  sed, 
ut  compleretur  electorum  numerus,  homo  est  decimus  creatus.  (S.  Grégoire, 
Hom.  34,  sur  saint  Luc.) 

180.  In  multitudine  populi  dignitas  Régis ,  et  in  paucitate  plebis  ignominia 
principis.  (Proverbes,  c.  14,  y.  28.) 


18 


APPENDIX. 


181.  Cum  perfectio  universi  sit  illud  quod  præcipue  Deus  intendit  in  creatione 
rerum,  quanto  aliqua  sunt  magis  perfecta,  tanto  in  majori  excessu  sunt  creata  a 
Teo.  (S.  Thomas,  1.  q.  50,  art.  3.) 

181.  Sicut  autem  in  corporibus  attenditur  excessus  secundum  magnitudinem, 
itain  rebus  incorporeis  potest  attendi  excessus  secundum  multitudicem...  Unde 
rationabile  est  quod  substantiæ  immateriales  excédant  secundum  multitudinem 
substantias  materiales  quasi  incomparabiliter.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  50,  art.  3.) 

181.  Vision  de  sainte  Angèle  de  Foligno. 

182.  Nee  novum  est  Spiritui  sancto  Angelos  appellare  eos  quos  ministros  suæ 
virtutis  Deus  præfecit.  (Tertullien,  Contre  les  Juifs,  9.) — Tune  spiritu  Angeli 
sumus,  quando  ministri  supernæ  voluntatis  efficimur.  (M.  Aurelius  Cassiodorus, 
in  Psalmo  33.) 

183.  Quai  is  pluvio  et  sereno  aere  incurrens  ut  nubes  per  repercussos  circulos 
radius  solis  multicolorem  format  iridem  ac  circa  ilium  fulget  undique  proximus 
æther  variis  circulis  qui  statim  solvuntur;  talis  est  et  luminum  natura,  summo 
lumine  minores  mentes  semper  radiis  illustrante...  Illi  autem  sunt  lumina  se- 
cunda  ex  Triade  regium  decus  habente,  Angeli.  (S.  Grégoire  de  Nazianze, 
Poèmes,  7.) 

185.  Multo  magis  consentaneum  est  pulchritudini  universi  et  eonsequenter 
etiam  ordini  divinæ  sapientiæ  quod  Angeli  fuerint  in  magna  varietate  specie- 
rum  creati.  (Suarez,  1.  1,  c.  12,  n.  6.) 

187.  In  Angelis  potius  est  quod  subjiciuntur  Deo  quam  quod  inferioribus  præ- 
sident.  (S.  Thomas,  l,q.  108,  art.  6.)  Sicut  gloriosius  est  Spiritui  sancto  produci 
a  Pâtre  et  Filio  quam  ad  extra  diffundere  gratiam.  (Vivien ,  Angélus.) 

187.  Et  ideo  ordines  nominati  a  prælatione  non  sunt  supremi,  sed  magis 
ordines  nominati  a  conversione  ad  Deum.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  108,  art.  6.) 

189  Dionysius  ex  nominibus  ordinum  proprietates  illorum  considerans,  illos 
ordines  in  prima  h ierar chia  posuit  quorum  nomina  imponuntur  per  respectum 
ad  Deum,  scilicet  Seraphim,  Cherubim  et  Thronos.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  108,  art.  6.) 

189.  Illos  vero  ordines  posuit  in  media  hierarchia  quorum  nomina  désignant 
communem  quamdam  gubernationem  sive  <  ispositionem,  idest,  Dominationes, 
Virtutes  et  Potestates.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  108,  art.  6.) 

189.  Illos  vero  ordines  posuit  in  tertia  hierarchia  quorum  nomina  désignant 
operis  executionem,  scilicet  Principatus,  Archangelos  et  Angelos.  (S.  Thomas, 
1,  q.  108,  art.  6.) 

190.  Cum  omnes  Angeli  simul  creati  sint,  in  eodem  instanti  prædictam  dis- 
tinctionem  necessario  habuerunt.  (Suarez,  1.  J,  c.  14,  n.  16.) 

190.  In  aliquibus,  ut  ita  dicam,  publicis  et  solemnibus  opportunitatibus,  non 
videtur  certe  negandum  supremos  etiam  Angelos  ad  terrain  descendisse  vel  de- 
scensuros  esse.  (Suarez,  1.  6,  c.  10,  n.  47.) 

190.  Verumtamen  in  his  etiam  missionibus  non  tam  ministrant  exterius  quam 
assistant  Christo,  ipsum  laudando  tt  præsentia  honorando;  quamvis  necesse  sit 
aliquid  etiam  exterius  facere  quando  hæc  visibiliter  operautur.  (Suarez,  ibid.) 

191.  Govern  esse  choros  sive  ordines  constituentes  très  hierarchias,  quomodo- 
cumque  disponantur,  de  üde  est.  (Suarez,  1.  2,  c.  13,  n.  2.) 

192.  Dispositos  in  dignitates,  ab  initio  stantes  in  ordine  suo.  (S.  Bernard,  de 
la  Consid .,  1.  5,  c.  4.) 


APPENDIX. 


19 


192.  Executio  autem  officiorum  angelicorum  aliquo  modo  remanebit  post  diem 
judicii  et  aliquo  modo  cessabit.  Cessabit  quidem  secundum  quod  eorum  officia 
ordinantur  ad  perducendum  aliquos  in  finem  ;  remanebit  autem  secundum  quod 
convenit  in  ultima  finis  consecutione.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  108,  art.  7.) 

192.  Probabile  est  quo  peri'ectior  est  ordo  Angelorum  eo  in  numéro  etiam  ex- 
cedere,  juxta  regulam  datam,  quod  in  rebus  per  se  intentis  a  Deo  perfectiores, 
vel  magnitudine,  vel  multitudine  excedunt.  (Suarez,  1.  1,  c.  11,  n.  8.) 

193.  Angeli  multis  modis  arcanum  Dei  manifestant.  (Tertull.,de  Oral.,  c.  12.) 

194.  Estote  ergo  perfecti,  sicut  et  Pater  vester  eœlestis  purfectus  est.  (S. 
Matth.,  c.  5,  v.  48.) 

194.  Vox  sicut  similitudinem  signification  æqualitatem  ;  nec  enim  Dei  per- 
fectionem  æquare  possumus,  sed  ilia  in  infinitum  omnem  nostram  superat  et 
transcendit;  quare  illara  eminus  imitari  debemus  quoad  possumus.  (Corn,  à 
Lap.,  sur  ce  passage.) 

195.  Cernere  est  in  his  qui  Seraphim  appellantur,  quomodo  amet.  (S.  Bernard, 
De  la  Consid.,  1.  5,  c.  4.) 

'  195.  Isti  dicuntur  Seraphim,  quasi  ardentes  vel  incendentes,  quia  per  incen- 
dium  solet  designari  intensio  amoris  vel  desjderii  qui  sunt  de  fine.  (S.  Thomas, 
contra  Genies,  1.  3,  c.  80.) 

196.  Audi  quid  ipse  Christus  loquatur:  Tgnem  veni  mitt  ere  in  terrain  et  quid 
volo  nisi  ut  accendatur?  Vult  ergo  Seraphim  fabricari.  (S.  Bernard,  Serm.  1,  de 
verb.  Isaice.) 

198.  Cernere  est  in  Cherubim  Deum  scientiarum  Dominum  esse.  (S.  Bernard, 
dê  la  Consid.,  1.  5,  c.  4.) 

198.  Hi  dicuntur  Cherubim  quod  interpretatur  scientiæ  plentitudo;  scientia 
enim  per  formam  scibilis  perficitur.  (S.  Thomas,  contra  Gentes,  1.  3,  c.  80.) 

200.  Cernere  est  in  Thronis  quam  non  suspectus  omni  innocentiæ  judex  se- 
deat.  (S.  Bernard,  de  la  Consid.,  1.  5,  c.  4.) 

200.  Sanctus  dicitur  cujus  affectus  et  mores  exacte  congruunt  legi  æternæ. 
Hoc  fit  in  creaturis  accidentaliter,  Deo  autem  idipsum  est  essentiale.  (Corn,  à 
Dap.,  sur  V Ecclésiastique,  c.  46,  v.  6.) 

200.  Dicitur  æquitas,  idest  rectitudo,  quia  suæ  normæ  et  regulæ,  puta  legi 
æternæ  et  divinæ  conforme,  ideoque  rectum  est,  non  pravum,  non  obliquum  et 
distortum.  (Corn,  à  Lap.,  sur  les  Prov.,  c.  1,  v.  3.) 

201.  Per  hanc  denominationem  designatur  quod  sunt  Deiferi  et  ad  omnes  di- 
vinas  suseeptiones  familiariter  apti.  (S.  Thomas,  contra  Gentes,  1.  3,  c.  80.) 

201.  Dicitur  àyioç,  quasi  sine  terra.  Munditia  necessaria  est  ad  hoc  quod  mens 

Deo  applicetur,  quia  mens  humana  inquinatur  ex  hoc  quod  interioribus  rebus 
conjungitur,  sicut  quælibet  res  ex  immixtione  pejoris  sordescit,  ut  argentum 
ex  immixtione  plumbi.  (S.  Thomas,  2-2,  q.  81,  art.  8.) 

203.  Cernere  est  in  Dominationibus  quantæ  sit  Dominus  majestatis.  (S.  Ber¬ 
nard,  de  la  Consid.,  1.  5,  c.  4.) 

203.  Nomen  Dominationem  existimo  declarare  absolutam  aliquam  domina- 
tionem  principii  Dominationis  semper  avidam,  quæ  ab  omni  servitute  celsior, 
omnique  directione  superior  est.  (S.  Denys,  de  la  Céleste  Hiérarchie,  c.  8.) 

206.  Cernere  est  in  Virtutibus  unam  ubique  æqualiter  præsto  esse  virtutem. 
(S.  Bernard,  de  la  Consid.,  1.  5,  c.  4.) 


20 


APPENDIX. 


207.  Appellatio  Virtutum  fortem  quamdam  dénotât  virilitatem  in  omnes  Dei- 
formes  operationes  redundantem.  (S.  Denys,  de  la  Céleste  Hiérarchie,  c.  8.) 

209.  Çernere  est  in  Potestatibus  quam  potestative  quos  régit  protegit,  contra¬ 
rias  Potestates  arcens  et  propulsans.  (S.  Bernard,  de  la  Consid.,  1.  5,  c.  4.) 

209.  Præpositi  sunt  Angeli  ccelorum  super  potestates  aereas.  (S.  Aug.,  sur  le 
Psaume  103.) 

209.  Putemus  Potestates  illas  esse  quarum  virtute  Potestas  tenebrarum  com- 
primitur  et  coercetur  malignitas  aeris  hujus,  ne  quantum  vult  noceat,  ne  malig- 
nari,  nisi  ut  prosit,  possit.  (S.  Bernard,  de  la  Consid.,  1.  5,  c.  4.) 

212.  Cernere  est  in  Principatibus  principium  ex  quo  omnia  et  quomodo  a  ear- 
dine  ostium  sic  ab  ipso  régi  universitatem.  (S.  Bernard,  de  la  Cons.,  1.  5,  c.  4.) 

212.  Nomen  Principatus  désignât  quoddam  dominium  cum  ordine  sacro.  (S. 
Denys,  de  la  Céleste  Hiérarchie,  c.  8.)  In  rebus  humanis  est  aliquod  bonum 
commune,  quod  quidem  est  bonum  civitatis,  vel  gentis,  quod  videtur  ad  princi- 
patuum  ordinem  pertinere.  (S.  Thomas,  contra  Genies,  1.  3,  e.  80.) 

214.  Cernere  postremo  et  mirari  est  in  Angelis  et  Archangelis  veritatem  atque 
experientiam  vocis  illius  :  Quoniam  ipsi  cura  est  de  nobis:  qui  talium  noset 
tantorum  non  desinit  jucundare  visitationibus,  instruere  revelationibus,  sug- 
gestionibu^  commonere,  sedulitate  solatiari.  (S.  Bernard,  de  la  Consid.,  1.  5,  c.  4.) 

214.  Putemus  Angelis  præesse  Archangelos  qui  conscii  mysteriorum  divino- 
,  rum,  non  nisi  ob  præcipuas  et  maximas  causas  mittuntur.  (S.  Bernard,  de  la 
Consid.,  1.  5,  c.  4.) 

217.  Custos  Angélus  habet  supra  se  superiores  Angelos  a  quibus  illuminator; 
non  tamen  habet  infra  se  Angelos  inferiores  quos  Plummet:  at  quod  in  alios 
Angelos  non  valet,  erga  sibi  commissum  hominem  exercet.  (Vivien,  Angelas.) 

219.  Sicut  anima  videt  in  oculis,  audit  in  auribus,  odorat  in  naribus,  in  fauci- 
bus  gustat,  tangit  in  toto  reliquo  corpore.  (S.  Bernard,  de  la  Consid  ,  1.  5,  c.  5). 

219.  Sic  Deus  diversa  in  diversis  spiritibus  operatur,  verbi  gratia  in  aliis 
amantem  se  exhibens,  in  aliis  agnoscentem,  in  aliis  alia  facientem,  sicut  uni- 
cuique  datur  manifestatio  spiritus  ad  utilitatem.  (S.  Bernard,  de  la  Consid., 
1.  5.  c.  5. 

220.  Dicimur  amare;  et  Deus:  dicimur  nosse  ;  et  Deus.  Et  multa  in  hunc 
modum.  Sed  Deus  amat  ut  charitas,  novit  ut  veritas,  sedet  ut  æquitas,  domi- 
natur  ut  majestas,  régit  ut  principium,  tuetur  ut  salus,  operatur  ut  virtus,  révé¬ 
lât  ut  lux,  assistit  ut  pietas.  (S.  Bernard,  de  la  Consid., lib.  5,  c.  5.) 

220.  Quæ  omnia  faciunt  et  Angeli,  facimus  et  nos,  sed  longe  inferiori  modo, 
non  utique  bono  quod  sumus,  sed  quod  participamus.  (S.  Bernard,  de  la  Con¬ 
sid.,  1.  5,  c.  5.) 

222.  Michael,  ut  olim  Synagogæ  ita  nunc  Eeclesiæ  totius  præses  et  custos  a 
fidelibus  colitur.  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  sur  Daniel,  c.  10.) 

222.  Nec  verebitur  magnitudinem  cujusquam.  (Sagesse,  c.  6,  v.  8.) 

222.  Confiteor  Deo  omnipotenti,  beatæ  Mariæ  semper  Virgini,  beato  Michaeli 
Archangelo...  Ideo  precor...beatum  Michaelem  Arehangelum... 

222.  Signifer  tuus  sanctus  Michael  repræsentet  eas  in  lucem  sanctam.  (Litur¬ 
gie  :  Offert  de  la  Messe  pour  les  morts.  Re  et  nomine  Michael,  te  oro  et  quantum 
possum  obtestor  ut  e  vita  hujus  curriculo  exituro  lætus  pacatusque  appareas, 
meque  sub  honorato  alarum  tuarum  velamine  abscondas,  atque  ex  angustis  ob- 


/ 


APPENDIX. 


21 


8curisque  inferorum  locis  ereptum  in  loco  tabernaculi  admirabilis  constituas 
deducens  usque  ad  domum  Dei,  in  voce  exsultationis  et  confessionis  et  sonifes- 
tum  celebrantis.  (S.  Sophrone,  Encom.  Ang.) 

223.  Michael  signifer  vocatur  quia  signum  sive  vexillum  Crucis  præferet 
Christo  venienti  ad  judicium.  (Eckius,  Horn,  sur  saint  Michel.) 

223.  Duos  e^se  Michaeles,  unurn  Seraphinum,  victorem  Luciferi,  alterum 
Arcbangelum,  custodem  Ecclesiæ,  sine  auctoritate  æque  ac  necessitate  assertum 
est.  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  in  cap.  10  Danielis.)  Sicut  ergo  Lucifer  dæmonum,  sic  Mi¬ 
chael  Angelorum,  pro  Deo  est  imperator,  esque  primus  inter  Seraphinos.  lid., 
ibid.) 

224.  Sanctus  Michael  est  divinæ  majestatis  propugnator,  Verbi  incarnati  de¬ 
fensor,  beatorum  Angelorum  detriumphator,  tandem  Ecclesiæ  protector.  (Viv¬ 
ien,  sur  saint  Michel.)  Operarius  victoriæ  Dei.  (Tertull.,  de  la  Patience ,  c.  14.) 
Columna  sanctæ,  apostolieæ  Ecclesiæ.  (S.  Pantaléon.) 


APPENDIX 

VOLUME  II. 


The  author  having  very  judiciously  expressed  his  desire  that  his  Latin  notes 
should  be  printed  in  this  translation,  they  are  put  here  together,  with  the  page 
on  which  they  are  respectively  found,  for  convenience  of  reference. 

PAGE. 

3.  Corpus  Ecclesiæ  mvsticuxn  non  solum  consistit  ex  hominibus  sed  etiam  ex 
Angelis.  Totius  autem  hujus  multitudinis  Christus  est  caput.  (*S.  Thomas,  3, 
q.  8,  art.  4.) 

3.  De  mysterio  Incarnationis  Christi  dupliciter  contingit  loqui.  Fno  modo 
generali;  et  sic  omnibus  Angelis  revelatum  est  a  principio  suse  beatitudinis. 
Cujus  ratio  est:  quia  hoc  est  quoddam  generale  prineipium  ad  quod  omnia  eorum 
officia  ordinanlur.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  57,  art.  5.) 

4.  Potuit  igitur  primo  homini  revelari  Incarnationis  mysterium  sine  hoc  quod 
esset  præscius  sui  casus;  non  enim  quicumque  cognoscit  effectum  cognoscit  et 
causam.  (S.  Thomas,  3,  q.  1,  art.  3.) 

4.  Videbitis  cælurn  apertum,  et  Angelos  Dei  ascendentes  et  descendentes  supra 
Filium  hominis.  (S.  Jean,  c.  1,  v.  51.) 

5.  Alio  modo  possumus  loqui  de  mysterio  Incarnationis,  quantum  ad  spéciales 
conditiones;  et  sic  non  omnes  Angeli  a  principio  de  omnibus  sunt  edocti  ;  imo 
quædam  etiam  superiores  Angeli  postmodum  didicerunt.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  57, 
art.  5.) 

6.  Divinas  visiones  gloriosi  patres  nostri  adepti  sunt  per  médias  Virtutes.  (S. 
Denis,  la  Céleste  Hiérarchie ,  c.  4.)  Illuminationes  et  revelationes  divinæ  a  Deo  ad 
homines  per  Angelos  deferuntur.  (S.  Thomas,  2,  2,  q.  172,  art.  2.) 

7.  A  supernis  legationibus  incipit  Evangelium:  ejus  primi  dictatores  Angeli. 
(S.  Cyprien.) 

7.  Verisimile  est  ab  Angelis  sanctis  sumi  ex  purioribus  corporibus  quæ  in  su- 
periori  parte  aeris  inveniuntur.  (Suarez,  1.  4,  c.  34,  n.  7.) 

7.  Substantialis  unio  non  datur  inter  Angelum  et  corpus  assumptum.  (Suarez, 
1.  4,  c.  30,  n.  2  ) 

7.  Assumpta  corpora  non  habent  dotes  gloriæ.  (Suarez,  1.  6,  c.  7,  n.  15.) 

7.  Angeli  non  indigent  corpore  assumpto  propter  seipsos,  sed  propter  nos,  ut 
familiariter  cum  hominibus  conversando,  demonstrent  intelligibilem  societatem 
quam  exspectant  homines  cum  eis  habendam  in  futura  vita.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q. 
51,  art.  2.) 

8.  Hoc  autem  quod  Angeli  corpora  assumpserunt  in  Veterl  Testamento,  fuit 
quoddam  figurate  indicium  quod  Yerbum  Dei  assumpturum  esset  corpus  hurna- 
num:  omnes  enim  apparitiones  ad  illam  apparitionem  ordinatæ  fuerunt  qua 
Filius  Dei  apparuit  in  carne.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  51,  art.  2.) 

8.  Adde  quod  aliqui  eorum  personam  ejus  gerebant,  ita  ut  loqueretur  quisque 
illorum  non  tanquam  Angelus,  sed  tanquam  Dominus,  Verbi  gratia,  ille  Angelus 
qui  cum  Moyse  loquebatur  dicebat,  non  ego  Domini  sed  ego  Dominus,  sed  ego 

(1) 


2 


APPENDIX. 


t 


Dominus,  atque  id  frequentius  iterabat.  (S.  Bernard,  Serm.  54,  sur  le  Cant,  des 
cant.) 

8.  Addimus  omnes  apparitiones  Dei  in  Yeteri  Testamento,  etiamsi  in  eis  An- 
gelorum  mentio  non  fiat,  ipsorum  ministerio  factas  esse.  (Suarez,  1.  6,  c.  20,  n. 
36. — S.  Denys,  S.  Augustin,  S.  Thomas.) 

9.  Accepistis  legem  in  dispositions  Angelorum.  (Art.  c.  7,  v.  55.)  Lex  ordi- 
nata  per  Angelos.  (S.  Paul  aux  Galates,  c.  3,  v.  19.) 

9.  Genèse,  c.  18. 

9.  Josué,  c.  5. 

9.  Exode,  c.  19  et  suivants. 

9.  Exode,  c.  13, 14. 

9.  Tobie,  c.  11. 

9.  Daniel,  c.  2. 

10.  Daniel,  c.  6. 

10.  Exode,  c.  16,  17. 

10.  Angélus  qui  deduxit  filios  Israel  per  dcsertum,  qui  apparuit  Abrahamo  m 
valle  Mambre,  Jacobo  in  Bethel,  Moisi  in  monte  Sina,  Josue  in  campis  Jericho 
erat  figura  Messiæ  venturi.  (Vivien,  Angélus.) 

10.  Dicendum  est  omnes  has  Dei  apparitiones  in  Novo  Testamento  per  Angelos 
factas  esse.  Estque  communis  sententia  Theologorum.  (Suarez,  1,  6,  c.  21,  n.  12.) 

11.  Aptum  humanæ  restaurationis  principium  ut  Angélus  a  Deo  mittererur  ad 
virginem  partu  oonsecrandam  divino;  quia  prima  periditionis  liamanæ  luit 
causa,  cum  serpens  a  diabolo  mittebatur  ad  mulierem  spiritu  superbiæ  decipien- 
dum.  (Beda,  Plomil.  de  Annunf.)  Decuit  nimirum  ut  Angélus  ad  procurandam 
humani  generis  salutem  esset  minister,  quia  ad  ruinam  malus  Angélus  auctor 
exstiterat.  (Vivien,  Angélus.) 

11.  Lætus  paranymphus  effectus  pro  officio,  exhilaratus  pro  gratia,  pro  obse- 
quio  expeditus,  insolito  fulgore  vestitus,  in  humana  effigie  descendit  ad  Virgi¬ 
nem.  S.  Laurent  Justinien,  sur  la  fête  de  V Annonciation.)  Venit  ad  me  quidam 
magnus  Christi  paranymphus,  non  patnarcha  primus,  aut  propheta  egregius,  sed 
Gabr.el  ille  Archangelus,  facie  rutilans,  veste  coruscans,  incessu  mirabilis.  (S. 
Aug.,  Serm.  18  de  Tempore.) 

13.  Stabat  tota  cœlestis  curia  expectans  responsum  ;  avidissime  cupiebat  assen- 
sum  Virginis.  Angélus  Gabriel,  orator  pro  cunctis  beatis  spiritibus,  sitiebat 
amoris  ardore  ad  ultimum  verbum  suum.  (Virgilius  Seldmayr.,  Theologia  Ma¬ 
riana .)  1 

13.  S.  Luc,  c.  1,  v.  26-38. 

13.  Dulce  illud  melo3  angelicum,  longe  celebratissimum,  quod  Angélus  Gabriel 
in  Nazareth  cecinit.  (S.  Ephrem.) 

13.  Cum  homo  devote  salutat  Virginem,  resalutatur  ab  ilia.  Est  enim  urba- 
nissima  Virgo  Maria,  nec  potest  salutari  sine  resalutatione  miranda.  Unde  si 
mille  Ave  Maria  dicis  in  die,  millies  a  Virgine  resalutaiis.  (S.  Bernardin  de  Si¬ 
enne.) 

14.  Deus...  donavit  illi  nomen.  (S.  Paul,  Epit.  aux  Phil  ippiens,  c.  2,  v.  9  ) 

14.  Ut  in  nomine  Jesu  omne  genu  flectatur  cœlestium,  terrestrium  et  inferno- 
rum.  (S.  Paul,  F. pit.  aux  Philippiens,  c.  2,  v.  10.) 

14.  Quasi  vir  pugnator  Omnipotens  nomen  ejus.  (Exode,  c.  15,  v.  3.)  Domi- 
nus  conterens  bella,  Dominus  nomen  est  illi.  (Judith,  c.  16,  v.  3.)  Sanctum  et 
terribile  nomen  ejus.  (Ps.  110,  v.  9.) 


APPENDIX.  3 

14.  Quid  est  Jesus  nisi  summa  majestas  et  summus  amor?  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  sur 
VEpît.  aux  Philippiens,  c.  2.) 

15.  Signifieat  nomen  Jesu  totam  incarnationis  et  redemptionis  Christ!  cecono- 
miam.  (Ibid.) 

15.  Non  bene  conveniunt  nec  in  una  sede  morantur. 

15.  Majestas  et  amor. 

Ï5.  Et  omnis  lingua  eonfiteatur  quia  Dominus  Jesus  Christus  in  gloria  est  Dei 
Patris.  (S.  Paul  aux  Philippiens,  c.  2,  v.  11.) 

15.  Donavit  illi  nomen  quod  est  super  omne  nomen.  (S.  Paul  aux  Philippiens, 
c.  2,  y.  9.) 

15.  Audito  nomine  Jesus,  devoti  fideles,  aut  caput  inclinant,  aut  genua  flec- 
tunt.  (S.  Jean  d’  Avila  ) 

16.  Si  scribas  non  sapitmihi  nisi  legero  ibi  Jesum.  Si  disputes  aut  conféras  non 
sapit  mihi  nisi  sonuerit  ibi  Jesus.  Jesus  mel  in  ore,  in  aure  melos,  in  corde  ju- 
bilus.  (S.  Bernard,  sur  le  Cant,  des  cant .,  Serm.  15.) 

16.  Usque  hodie  quidquid  in  scripturis  valet,  quidquid  in  eis  spiritualiter  sen¬ 
tit,  maxime  in  silvis  et  in  agris  meditando  et  orando  se  confitetur  accepisse;  et 
in  hoc  nullos  aliquando  se  magistros  habuisse  nisi  quercus  et  fagos,  joco  illo  suo 
gratioso  inter  amicos  dicere  solet.  (  Vila  S.  Bernardi ,  auctore  Guillelmo,  1. 1,  c. 
4,  n.23.) 

17.  Per  apertam  viam  ingressi  sunt  sequentes  Dominum  et  dicentes  inter  se  : 
Si  ille  descendit,  quid  nos  quiescimus?  quid  parcimus  nobis?  Eia,  omnes  An- 
geli,  descendamus  de  ccelo.  (Origene,  Horn,  sur  Ezêchiel.) 

17.  Salve,  Bethleem,  domus  panis,  in  qua  natus  est  ille  panis  qui  de  cœlo  de¬ 
scendit.  (S.  Jérôme,  dans  l’oraison  funèbre  de  sainte  Paule.) 

17.  Et  subito  facta  est  cum  Angelo  multitudo  militæ  cœlestis  laudantium  Deum 
et  dicentium  :  Gloria  in  Altissimis  Deo.  (S.  Luc,  c.  2,  v.  13,  14.) 

18.  Ibi  agnosciturlux  non  lucens,  Verbum  intans,  aqua  sitiens,panisesuriens. 
Yideas,  si  attendus,  potentiam  régi,  sapientiam  instrui,  virtutem  sustentari.  (S. 
Bernard,  super  Missus  est.) 

19.  Valor  tarn  meritorius  quam  satisfactorius  actionum  non  solum  petitur  ex 
objecto,  aut  ex  prineipio  quo ,  sed  etiam  et  maxime  ex  dignitate  peraonæ  oper¬ 
ands  ut  principium  guod,  eoque  magis  crescit  quo  major  est  dignitas  personæ: 
atqui  persona  Christi  est  infinite  digna:  ergo  ejus  operationes,  licet  ex  condi- 
tione  objecti  et  principii  quo  sint  finiti  valoris,  ex  dignitate  tamen  infinita  per¬ 
sonæ  a  qua  procedunt,  habent  valorem  tam  meritorium  quam  satisfactorium 
simpliciter  infinitum.  (Theologia  Claromontensis,  de  Redemptione  Christi,  p.  2, 
c.  1,  art.  2.) 

20.  Et  in  terra  pax  hominibus  bonæ  voluntatis.  (S.  Luc,  2,  v.  14.) 

20.  Post  Christum  natum  efficacius  Angeli  nos  custodiunt.  (Origêne,  Horn. 
10,  sur  saint  Luc.)  Cujus  tanta  erga  nos  misericordiæ  visceri  ipsi  quoque  imitan- 
tur.  (S.  Bernard,  sur  saint  Michel.) 

21.  Et  ecce  Angélus  Domini  stetit  juxta  illos,  et  claritas  Dei  circumfulsit 
illos  et  timuerunt  timoré  magno.  Et  dixit  illis  Angélus:  Nolite  timere:  ecce 
enirn  evangelizo  vobis  gaudium  magnum  quod  erit  omni  populo.  (S.  Luc,  e.  2, 
v.  9, 10.) 

21.  Et  factum  est  ut  discesserunt  ab  eis  Angeli  in  cœlum  :  pastores  loquebantur 


4 


APPENDIX. 


ad  invicem:  Transeamus  usque  Bethlehem,  et  videamus  hoe  Yerbum  quod  fac¬ 
tum  est,  quod  Dominns  ostendit  uobis.  (S.  Luc,  c.  2,  v.  15.) 

21.  Angelorutn  hymnus  in  nativitate  decantatus  cœlum  et  terram  in  harrno- 
niarn  et  eonventum  conjunxit.  (Photius,  contra  Munich.,  1.  4,  c.  15.) 

21.  Angeli  ex  acre  condensato,  splendorem  ei  indendo,  illam  efformarunt. 
(Corn,  a  Lap.,  in  Mallh.,  c.  2,  v.  2.)  Angelus  erat  motor  et  quasi  auriga  stellse. 
(Origène,  Théophylacte,  S.  Jean  Chrysostome.) 

23.  Et  responso  accepto  in  soumis  ne  redirent  ad  Herodem,  per  aliam  viam  re- 
versi  sunt  in  regionem  suam.  (S.  Matthieu,  c.  2,  v.  12.) 

24.  Tune  adimpletum  est  quod  dictum  est  per  Jeremiam  prophetam  dicentem: 
Yox  in  Rama  audita  est,  ploratus  et  uluatus  multus:  Rachel  plorans  filios  suos, 
et  noluit  consolari,  quia  non  sunt.  (S.  Matthieu,  c.  2,  y.  17, 18.) 

24.  Rachel  hebraice  significat  ovem.  Plangit  Rachel,  id  est  ovis  necem  agno- 
rum,  sed  plaudunt  Angeli,  imo  et  parvuli,  quia  aniniæ  parvulorum,  quasi  agno- 
rum,  ad  societatem  transibant  Angelorum.  (Corn,  à  Lap.,  sur  saint  Matthieu ,  c. 
2,  v.  17,  18.) 

24.  Ecce  Angelus  Domini  apparuit  in  somnis  Joseph,  dicens:  Surge,  et  accipe 
puerurn  et  niatrem  ejus,  et  fuge  in  Ægyptum,  et  esto  ibi  usque  dum  dicam  tibi. 
Futurum  est  enim  ut  Herodes  quærat  puerum  ad  perdendum  eum.  (S.  Matthieu, 
c.  2,  v.  13.) 

25.  Dominus  ingredietur  Ægyptum  et  commovebuntur  simulacra  Ægypti  a 
facie  ejus.  (Isaïe,  c.  19,  v.  1.)  mm  autem  Maria  et  Joseph  eum  puero  Jesu  in- 
trarent  in  Ægyptum,  omnia  idola  illius  provinciæ  in  templis  suis  corruerunt, 
sicut  per  prophetam  Isaiam  fuerat  prophetatum.  (Ludolphus  a  Saxonia,  Vila 
Christi,  pars  1,  c.  13.) 

2\  Non  ita  cœlum  variis  astrorum  choris  refulget  ut  Ægyptus  innumeris  mo- 
naehorum  ac  virginum  iliustratur  habitaculis.  (S.  Chiysost.,  Horn.  8.) 

26.  Defancto  autem  Herode,  ecce  Angelus  Domini  apparuit  in  somnis  Joseph 
in  Ægypto,  dicens:  Surge,  et  accipe  puerum  et  niatrem  ejus,  et  vade  in  terram 
Israel:  deluncti  sunt  enim  qui  quærebant  animam  pueri.  (S.  Matthieu,  c.  2,  v. 
19,  20.) 

26.  Audiens  autem  quod  Archelaüs  regnaret  in  Judæa  pro  Herode  pâtre  suo, 
timuit  illo  ire.  (Ibid.,  v.  22.) 

26.  Et,  admonitus  in  somnis,  secessit  in  partes  Galilææ.  Et  veniens  habitavit 
in  civitate  quæ  vocatur  Nazareth.  (Ibid,  v.  22,  23.)  Nazareth  interpretatur  flos 
pulchra.  Hic  Maria  cadens  flos  Virginum  nata  est.  Hic  Christus,  ut  flos  campi 
nasceretur  in  flore  virtutum,  conceptus  et  educatus  est.  (S.  Jérôme.) 

27.  Et  dixit  ei  Nathanael:  A  Nazareth  potest  aliquid  boni  esse?  Dicit  ei 
Philippus:  Veni  et  vide.  (S.  Jean,  c.  1,  y.  46.) 

27.  Miraris  quod  Nazareth,  parva  civitas,  et  tanti  regis  nuntio  illustretur  et 
tanto?  Sed  magnus  latet  in  bac  parva  civitate  thesaurus;  latet,  inquam,  sed 
homines  latet,  non  Deum.  Novit  cœlum  unigenitus  Dei  Patris  ?  Si  novit  cœlum, 
novit  et  Nazareth.  Quidni  sciaL  patriam  suam?  Quidni  noverit  hære jitatem 
suam?  Cœlum  ex  pâtre;  Nazareth  ex  matre,  vindicat  sibi.  (S.  Bernard,  sur 
V  Annonciation.) 

30.  Mysterium  Incarnationis  non  innotuit  dæmonibus  sicute  Angelis  sanctis, 
sed  sicut  eis  terrendis  innotescendum  ruit  per  quædam  temporalia  eflecta.  (S. 


APPENDIX. 


5 


Thomas,  1,  q.  34,  art  1.)  Quando  ea  præsentiæ  suæ  signa  paululum  snpprimenda 
judieavit  et  aliquando  altius  latuit.  dubitavit  de  illo  dæmonum  princeps.  (S. 
Augustin,  Cité ,  1.  9,  c.  21.) 

30.  Eum  tentavit,  an  e  set  Christus  explorans.  (S.  Augustin,  Cité,  1.  9.  c.  21.) 

3).  isis  miraculis,  ex  quadatn  suspicatione  conjecturavit  eum  esse  Filium 

Dei.  (S.  Thomas,  3,  q.  44,  art.  1.) 

31.  Quod  autem  ipsum  confitebantur  esse  Filium  Dei,  magis  erat  ex  quadam 
suspicione,  quam  ex  certicudine.  (Ibid.) 

31.  Si  autem  perfecte  et  per  certitudinem  cognovissent  et  effectus  passionis 
ejus,  nunquam  Dominuin  glorias  crucifigi  procurassent.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  64, 
art.  1.) 

.31.  Adverte  dæmones  non  ita  clare  et  firmiter  idipsum  cognovisse,  quin  ex 
aFa  parte  cogitantes  mag  itudinem  mysterii,  tautæ  dignationis  et  humiliationis 
Christi  incarnati,  quod  videtur  naturaliter  incredibile,  præsertim  superbissimo 
diabolo,  subinde  hæsitarent  et  dubitarent  an  Jesus  esset  Messias  et  Dei  Filius. 
(Corn,  à  Lap.,  sur  saint  Marc ,  c.  3,  v.  12.) 

31.  Hæsitarunt  maxime  quia  excæcabat  eos  odium  Jesu.  Unde  factum  est  ut 
odio  Jesu  excæcati,  et  sanctas  scripturas,  alioqui  claras  de  Christi,  cruce  et  morte 
et  nostra  per  earn  redemptione,  vel  non  considerarent,  vel  non  intelligerent. 
(Ibid.) 

33.  Si  Filius  Dei  es,  die  ut  lapides  isti  panes  fiant.  (S.  Matthieu,  c.  4,  v.  3.) 

33.  Scriptum  est:  Non  in  solo  pane  vivit  homo,  sed  in  omni  verbo  quod  prooe- 
dit  de  ore  Dei.  (Ibid.,  y.  4.) 

33.  Si  Filius  Dei  es,  mitte  fe  deorsum.  Scriptum  est  enim:  Quia  Angelis  suis 
mandavit  de  te,  et  in  manibus  tollent  te,  ne  forte  offendas  ad  lapidem  pedem 
tuum.  (S.  Matthieu,  c.  4,  v.  6.) 

33.  Rursum  scriptum  est  :  Non  tentabis  Dominum  Deum  tuum.  (Ibid,  v.  7.) 

33.  Hæc  omnia  tibi  dabo,  si  cadens  adoraveâs  me.  (Ibid.,  y.  9.) 

33.  Vade,  Satana  ;  scriptam  est  enim  :  Dominum  Deum  tuum  adorabis  et  illi 
soli  servies.  (Ibid.,  v.  10.) 

33.  Tunc  reliquit  eum  diabolus,  et  ecce  Angeli  accesserunt  et  ministrabant  ei. 
(3.  Matth.,  c.  4,  v.  11.)  Angeli  ministrabent  ei,  non  tanquam  miséricordes  indi- 
genti,  sed  tanquam  subjecti  omwipotenti.  (S.  Aug.,  sur  le  Psaume  56.) 

33.  Cum  tentatio  fiat  tribus  modis,  scilicet  suggestione,  delectatione  et  con¬ 
sensu,  Dominus  sola  suggestione  tentatus  est.  (S.  Greg.,  Homil.  in  Evang.  Ten¬ 
tavit  diabolus,) 

31.  Non  invenimus  quod  hac  potentia  pro  se  vel  discipulis  suis  usus  fuerit,  pro 
turbis  vero  usus  fuit.  (Ludolphus  a  Saxonia,  Vita  Jesu  Christi,  p.  1,  c.  22.) 

34.  Pergunt  duo  ex  Angelis,  Domino  annuente,  et  in  momento  fuerunt  coram 
mitre  ac  earn  reverenter  salutantes,  de  Filii  sui  statu  sibi  narrant  et  modicum 
pulmentum  quod  sibi  et  Joseph  paraverat,  ac  panem  cum  aliis  opportunis  re¬ 
portant.  Reversi  ergo,  parant  in  plana  terra  et  mensæ  benedictionem  solemui- 
ter  peragunt.  (Ludolphus  a  Saxonia,  Vita  Jesu  Christi,  pars  la,  c.  22.) 

35.  Circumstant  Angeli  ministrantes  Domino  suo  et  hymnum  cantant  de  can- 
ticis  Sion  ac  jucundantur  et  diem  lestum  agunt  cum  eo.  Sed,  si  dici  liceat, 
permixtum  est  hoc  festum  compassione  per  maxima,  propter  quam  et  nos  plo- 
rare  deberemus.  Conspiciunt  enim  eum  reverenter,  et  considérantes  Deum  ac 
Dominum  suum  et  totius  mundi  Creatorem  qui  dat  escam  omni  carni,  sic  humil- 


I 


6 


APPENDIX. 


iatum  et  sustentatione  cibi  corporalis  indigentem  et  comedentem,  sicut  cæteros 
de  populo,  moventur  compassione  super  eo.  (Ludolphus  a  Saxonia,  Vita  Jesu 
Christi ,  pars  la,  c.  22.) 

36.  Et  ecce  vox  de  cœlis  dicens  :  Hic  est  Filius  meus,  dilectus  in  quo  mihi  com- 
placui.  (S.  Matthieu,  c.  3,  v.  17.)  Vox  hæc  in  persona  Patris  Angelorum  minis- 
terio  efformata  fuit.  (Victor  d’ Antioche,  sur  saint  Marc,  c.  1.) 

36.  Anima  Christi  magis  est  replela  virtu  te  Verbi  Dei  quam  aliquis  Angelo¬ 
rum;  unde  et  Angelos  illuminât.  (S.  Thomas,  3,  q.  59,  art.  6.) 

37.  Pertransiit  benefaciendo  et  sanando  omnes  oppressos  a  diabolo.  (Actes, 
c.  10,  v.  38.) 

38.  Aquæ  multæ  non  potuerunt  extinguere  charitatem  nec  flumîna  obruent 
illarn.  (Cant.,  c.  8,  v.  7.) 

38.  Populus  est  mihi  multus  in  hac  civitate.  (Actes,  c.  18,  v.  10.) 

38.  Omnes  Angeli  sancti  illius  gloriam  quærunt  quem  diligunt  ;  ad  ejus  cul  - 
tum,  ad  ejus  adorationem,  ad  ejus  contemplationem  omnes  quos  diligunt.  rapere 
et  infiammare  student  ;  ipsum  illis  annuntiant,  non  se,  quoniam  Angeli  sunt:  et 
quia  milites  sunt,  non  norunt  gloriam  quærere  nisi  imperatoris  sui.  (S.  Aug., 
sur  le  Psaume  96.) 

40.  Desiderant  Angeli  tanti  apud  Christum  potiri  libertate  quanta  potitus  est 
qui  super  pectus  ejus  recubuit.  (Philippus  solit.,  ad  Callirum  monachum.) 

42.  Magna  dignitas  sacerdotum  quibus  datum  est  quod  Angelis  non  est  con- 
cessum.  Soli  namque  sacerdotes,  rite  in  Ecclesia  ordinati,  potestatem  habent 
celebrandi  et  corpus  Christi  consecrandi.  ( Imit .  Chiist.,  1.  4,  c.  5.) 

45.  Et  positis  genibus  orabat  dicens  :  Pater,  si  vis,  transfer  calicem  istum  a 
me:  Verumtamen  non  mea  voluntas,  sed  tua  fiat.  (S.  Luc,  c.  22,  v.  41,  42.) 

45.  Apparuit  autem  illi  Angélus  de  cœlo,  confortans  eum.  (S.  Luc,  c.  22,  v.  43.) 

47.  Quadam  autem  die,  cum  venissent  Filii  Dei  ut  assistèrent  coram  Domino, 
'  adfuit  inter  eos  etiam  Satan.  (Job,  c.  1,  v.  6.) 

47.  Quid  vultis  mihi  dare  et  ego  vobis  eum  tradam?  Et  illi  constituerunt  ei 
triginta  argenteos.  (S.  Matthieu,  c.  26,  v.  15.) 

48.  Intravit  autem  Satanas  in  Judam.  (S.  Luc,  c.  22,  v.  3.)  Yenit  et  introivit 
in  eum  Satanas  et  cœpit  dicere:  Non  est  tuus,  o  Jesu,  sed  meus  est.  (s.  Am¬ 
broise.)  Significant  hæc  verba  sceleris  atrocitatem,  quasi  homo  ad  illud  patran- 
dum  non  suffecerit,  sed  opus  fuerit  ope  et  instigatione  diaboli.  Tantum  enim 
fuit  hoc  facinus  ut  non  hominis,  sed  Luciferi  fuisse  videatur.  (Corn,  à  Lap.,  sur 
saint  Matthieu,  c.  26,  v.  14.) 

48.  Tune  frontem  perfricuit,  impudentiam  induit.  (Corn,  à  Lap.,  sur  saint 
Matthieu,  c.  26,  v.  14.) 

4S.  Et  confestim  accedens  ad  Jesum, dixit:  Ave,  Rabbi.  Et  osculatus  est  eum. 
Dixitque  illi  Jesus:  Amice,  ad  quid  venisti?  (S.  Matthieu,  c  26,  v.  49,  50.) 

49.  Et  projectis  argenteis  in  templo,  recessit,  et  abiens,  laqueo  se  suspendit. 
(S.  Matthieu,  c.  27,  v.  5.) 

49.  An  putas  quia  non  possum  rogare  Patrem  meum,  et  exhibebit  mihi  modo 
plus  quam  duodecim  legiones  Angelorum?  (S.  Matthieu,  c.  26,  v.  53.) 

49.  Actio  mala,  passio  grata. 

51.  Attendite,  et  videte  si  est  dolor  sicut  dolor  meus.  (Threni,  c.  l*v.  12.) 


APPENDIX.  7 

Uterque  dolor  in  Christo  fuit  maximus  inter  dolores  præsentis  vitæ.  (S.  Tho¬ 
mas,  3,  q.  46,  art.  6.) 

51.  Ubi  est,  mors,  victoria  tua?  Ubi  est,  mors,  stimulus  tuus?  (S.  Paul  aux 

Corinth.,  Epit.  1,  c.  15,  v.  55.)  _ 

52.  Quin  et  peccati  remedium  ex  ipso  peccato,  puta  ex  consideratione  fœdi- 
talis  et  noxæ  peccati,  petiere  sanctus  Paulus,  sancta  Magdalena,  cæteiique  pœni- 
tentrs  et  sancti.  (Corn,  â  Lap.,  sur  V  Ecclésiastique,  c.  33,  v.  15.) 

53.  Yidcbam  Satanam  sicut  fulgur  de  cœlo  cadeutem.  (S.  Luc,  c.  19,  v.  18.) 

53.  Et  ecce  velum  ternpli  scissum  est  in  duas  partes  a  summo  usque  deorsum: 
et  terra  mota  est,  et  petræ  scissæ  sunt,  et  monumenta  aperta  sunt  :  et  multa  cor¬ 
pora  sanctorum  qui  dormieraut  surrexerunt.  Et  exeuntes  de  monumentis  post 
resurrectionem  ejus  venerunt  in  sanctam  civitatem  et  apparuerunt  multis.  (S. 
Matthieu,  c.  27,  v.  51-53.)  Yeli  honor  cum  custodia  Angeli  protegentis  aufertur. 
(S.  Hilaire.) 

54.  Aut  Deus  naturæ  patitur,  aut  machina  mundi  dissolvitur.  {Vie  de  saint 
Denys  V Arêopagite.) 

54.  Non  pro  Angelis  mortuus  est  Christus,  sed  ideo  etiam  pro  Angelis  fit  quid- 
quid  hominum,  per  ejus  mortem,  redimitur.  (S.  Augustin,  Enchiridion,  c.  61.) 

54.  Caro  suppliciis  erogatur  enisa  reddere  Christo  vicem,  moriendo  pro  ipso. 
(Tertullien,  de  Resurrect.,  8.) 

54.  Tam  gloriosum  est  pro  Deo  pati  et  mori  ut  Angeli  exoptarent  habere  cor¬ 
pora  quæ  pro  Dei  honore  supplicia  tolerarent.  Et  si  beati  iili  spiritus  essent 
livoiis  capaces,  inviderent  hominibus  illam  patiendi  pro  Deo  felicitatem. 
(Vivien.  Angélus.) 

55.  Verbum  Dei  caro  factum  est  et  habitavit  in  nobis:  reddite  vicem  et  effici- 
mini  spiritus  et  habitâtes  in  illo.  (S.  Aug  ,  Lettre  à  Honorât.) 

55.  Si  quis  me  apud  superos  collocaret’  cum  Angelis  aut  cum  Paulo  vincto  eli- 
gerem  carcerem.  Si  quis  me  faceret  unum  ex  Potestatibus  quæ  sunt  circa  cœlos 
aut  circa  Thronos,  aut  talern  esse  vinctum,  potius  optarem  talis  esse  vinctus. 
(S.  Chrysost.,  sur  VEpit.  aux  Ephêsiens.  Horn.  8.) 

56.  Le  P.  Faber,  le  Précieux  Sang. 

56.  Post  effusionem,  remansit  ille  sanguis  vivificus.  (Clemens  Sextus  in  In- 
quisitorio.) 

57.  Non  dubium  est  plures  illi  Angelos  adfuisse  et  per  triduum  custodisse  se- 
pulcrum  ac  in  eo  adorasse  sacrum  Christ!  corpus,  utpote  deitati  hypostatice  uni- 
tum.  (Corn,  â  Lap.,  in  cap.  28  Matth.) 

57.  Cernis  ut  in  toto  corpore  insculptus  amor!  (S.  Bernard.) 

57.  Docent  Theologi  sanguinem  Christi  in  passione  effusum  non  fuisse  separa- 
tim  adivinitate,  sed  hane  mansisse  cum  eo  æque  ac  cum  corpore  hypostatice  con- 
junctam;  sanguis  enim  Christi  fuit  pretium  justirm  et  sufficiens  peccatorum 
no.  trorurn,  eo  quod  esset  sanguis  personæ  divinæ,  puta  Verbi  quod  est  infinitæ 
dignitatis.  Si  ergo  ab  ea  per  effusionem  fuisset  separatus,  desiisset  esse  pretium 
condignum.  (Corn,  â  Lap.,  sur  saint  Pierre,  Epit.  1,  c.  1,  v.  19.) 

58.  Quidquid  ad  naturam  corporis  humani  pertin«t  totum  fuit  in  corpore 
Christi  resurgeutis.  Manifestum  est  autem  quod  ad  naturam  corporis  humani 
pertinent  carnes,  et  ossa,  et  sanguis,  et  alia  hujusmodi.  Et  ideo  omnia  ista  in 
corpore  Christi  resurgentis  fuerunt,  et  etiam  integraliter,  absque  omni  diminu- 


8 


APPENDIX. 


tione  ;  alioquin  non  fuisset  perfecta  resurrectio,  si  non  fuisset  redintegratum 
quidquid  per  mortem  ceciderat...  Dicendum  quod  totus  sanguis  de  corpore 
Christi  fluxit,  cum  ad  veritatem  humanæ  naturæ  pertineat,  in  corpore  (  hristi 
resurrexit...  Sanguis  autem  ille  qui  in  quibusdam  Ecclesiis  pro  reliquiis  conser 
vatur,  non  fluxit  de  latere  Christi,  sed  miraculose  dieitur  eflluxisse  dé  quadam 
imagine  Christi  percussa.  (S.  Thomas,  3,  q.  54,  art.  2.) 

59.  Et  his  qui  in  carcere  erant  spiritibus  veniens  prædicavit.  (S.  Pierre, 
Ippit.  1,  c.  3,  y.  19.)  Descendit  ad  inferos.  (Symbole  des  Apôtres  )  Christus 
mox  ut  expiravit,  quoad  animam  descendit  in  limbum  patrum  illisque  se 
suamque  Deitatem  ostendit.  (Corn,  àLap.,  sur  saint  Matthieu ,  c.  27,  y.  60.) 

60.  Et  procidentes  adoraverunt  et  surgentes  stabant  in  landibus  et  canticis  co¬ 
ram  eo  cum  reverentia  et  ingenti  exultatione.  (Corn,  â  Lap.) 

61.  In  conspectu  etiam  multitudinis  Angelorum  ibidem  exultantium  et  jubi- 
lantium  cum  eis.  (Corn,  à  Lap.) 

62.  Et  ecce  terræmotus  factus  est  magnus.  Angélus  enim  Domini  descendit 
de  cœlo;  et  accedens  reyolvit  lapidem  et  sedebat  super  eum:  autem  aspectus  ejus 
sicut  fulgur  et  vestimentum  ejus  sicut  nix.  (S.  Matthieu,  c.  28,  v.  2,  3.) 

63.  Ecce  duo  yiri  steterunt  juxta  illas  in  veste  fulgenti.  Cum  timerent  autem 
et  declinarent  vultum  in  terrain,  dixerunt  ad  illas  :  Quod  quæritis  viventem 
cum  mortuis?  Non  est  hic,  sed  surrexit  ;  recordamini  qualiter  loeutus  est  vobis 
cum  adhuc  in  Galilæa  esset,  dicens  :  Quia  opovtet  Filium  hominis  tradi  in  manus 
hominum  peccatorum,  et  crucifigi,  et  tertia  die  resurgere.  (S.  Luc,  c.  24,  y.  3-7.) 

63.  Et  audivi  quasi  vocem  turbæ  magnæ  et  sicut  yocem  aquarum  multarum  et 
sicut  yocem  tonitruorum  magnorum  dicentium:  Alleluia:  quuniam  regnavit 
Dominus  noster  omnipotens.  (Apoc.,  c.  19,  y.  6.)  Et  vidi  et  audivi  vocem  An¬ 
gelorum  multorum  in  circuitu  throni  et  animalium  et  seniorum;  et  erat  nu- 
merus  eorum  millia  millium  dicentium  voce  magna:  Dignus  est  Agnus  qui  occi- 
sus  est  'accipere  virtutem  et  divinitalem,  et  sapientiam,  et  fortitudinem,  et  ho- 
norem,  et  gloriam,  et  bencdictionem.  (S.  Luc,  c.  5,  v.  11, 12.) 

65.  Attollite  portas,  principes,  vestras,  et  ele^amini  portæ  æternales:  et  intro- 
ibit  Hex  gloriæ.  (Ps.  23,  v.  7.)  Triumphatoris  æterni  manubias  intuentes,  quasi 
eum  quem  emiserant  cœli  portæ  non  possent,  licet  ejus  nunquam  captant  rnajes- 
tatem,  majorem  viam  quærebant  aliquam  Tevertenti.  (S.  Ambroise.) 

65.  Quis  est  iste  Rex  gloriæ?  (Ps.  24,  v.  10.) 

65.  Dominus  virtutum  ipse  est  Rex  gloriæ.  ( Id .,  ibid.) 

66.  Ascendens  in  alturn  captivam  duxit  captivitatem.  (S.  Paul  aux  Ephé- 
siens,  c.  4,  v.  8.)  Hinc  secum  duxit  in  triumphum  omnes  animas  sanctorum 
Patrum  et  Patriarcharum  quos  e  limbo  eduxerat,  (Corn,  à  Lap.,  sur  les  Actes , 
c.  1,  v.  9.) 

67.  Christus  ascendens  in  ccelum  naturæ  nostræ  primitias  obtulit  Patri  et  ob- 
latum  donum  miratus  est  Pater  quod  et  tanta  dignitas  offerebat,  et  quod  offere- 
batur  nulla  .macula  fœdabatur.  (S.  Chrysost.,  Serm.  sur  VAscens.)  Christus 
terram  levavit  in  cœlum.  (S.  Aug.,  Serm.  sur  VAscens.) 

68.  Videntibus  illis  elevatus  est:  et  nubes  suscepit  eum  ab  oculis  eorum. 
Cumque  intuerentur  in  cœlum  euntem  ilium,  ecce  duo  viri  astiterunt  juxta  ilîos 
in  vestibus  albis,  qui  et  dixerunt  :  Viri  Galilæi,  quid  statis  aspicientes  in  cœlum? 


APPENDIX.  9 

Hic  Jesus  qui  assumptus  est  a  vobis  in  cœlum,  sic  veniet  quemadmodum  vidistis 
eum  euntern  in  cœlum.  (Actes,  c.  1,  v.  9-11.) 

70.  Et  vidi:  et  ecce  in  medio  throni  et  quatuor  animalium  et  in  medio  senio- 
rum  Agnum  stantem  tanquam  occisum.  (Apoc.,  c.  5,  v.  6.) 

70.  Hi  sunt  qui  cum  mulieribus  non  sunt  coinquinati  :  Yirgines  enim  sunt. 
Hi  sequuntur  Agnum  quocumque  ierit.  Hi  empti  sunt  ex  hominibus  primitiæ 
Deo  et  Agno.  (Apoc.,  c.  14,  v.  4.) 

71.  Vies  de  sainte  A/paix,  de  sainte  Colombe,  de  sainte  Julienne  de  sainte  Ozanne, 
de  saint  Marc,  solitaire  ;  de  sainte  Véronique  de  Milan,  de  saint  Bénigne ,  de  saint 
Stanislas  Kostka. 

72.  Yerisimile  est  etiam  in  via  aliquam  Mariæ  cognitionem  babuisse  Angelos. 
(Suarez,  1.  6,  c.  5,  n.  10.) 

73.  Et  signum  magnum  apparuit  in  cœlo  :  Mulier  amicta  sole  et  luna  sub  pedi- 
bus  ejus  ;  et  in  capite  ejus  corona  stellarum  duodecim...  Et  Draco  stetit  ante  mu- 
lierem  quæ  erat  paritura,  ut  cum  peperisset  filium  ejus  devoraret.  (Apoc.,  c.  12, 
v.  1-4. 

73.  Eva  typus  fuit  beatæ  Mariæ  quæ  mater  est  viventium,  non  temporali,  sed 
spirituali  et  æterna  vita  in  cœlo.  (S.  Epiphane,  Hérésies,  78.) 

73.  Et  ait  Dominus  Deus  ad  serpentera  :  Quia  fecisti  hoc,  maledictus  es  inter 
omnia  animantia...  Inimicitias  ponam  inter  te  et  mulierem,  et  semen  tuum,  et 
semen  ejus.’  (Genèse,  c.  3,  v.  14,  15.) 

73.  Tu  gloria  Jerusalem,  tu  lætitia  Israel,  tu  honorificentia  populi  nostri.  (Ju¬ 
dith,  c.  15,  v.  10.) 

74.  Orietur  stella  ex  Jacob  et  consurget  Yirga  de  Israel.  (Nombres,  c.  24,  v.  17.) 

74.  Ecce  Virgo  concipiet,  et  pariet  filium,  et  vocabitur  nomen  ejus  Emmanuel. 

(Isaïe,  c.  7,  y.  14.) 

74.  Omnis  gloria  ejus  fillæ  regis  ab  intus,  in  fimbriis  aureis,  circumamicia  vari- 
etatibus.  (P.  44,  v.  14,  15.) 

74.  Porta  hæc  clausa  erit  :  non  aperietur,  et  vir  non  transibit  per  eam  :  quo- 
niam  Dominus  Deus  Israel  ingressus  est  per  earn,  eritque  clausa  principi.  (Ezé- 
chiel,  c.  44,  v.  2,  3.) 

76.  Pie  IX. 

77.  Maria,  aurora  prænuntia  Dei.  (S.  Bernard.) 

77.  Maria  iris  mvstica.  (Algrin  d’Abbeville.) 

77.  Maria  navicula  Domini.  (Adam  des  Iles.) 

77.  Maria  campus  floris  æterni.  (S.'  Ildefons  \) 

77.  Maria,  radix  vitæ  florens;  Virga  cujus  flos  Christus.  (Hugues  de  Saint- 
Victor.) 

77.  Maria  vox  clamantis  in  cœlum.  (S.  Antonin.) 

78.  Maria  magnes  spiritualis.  (Adam  de  Perseigne.) 

78.  Maria,  scala  Dei  descendentis  et  hominis  ascend entis.  (S.  Anselme  de 
Lucques.) 

78.  Maria  diversorium  Pei  peregrinantis.  (Richard  de  Saint-Victor.)  Maria 
♦balamus  humanitatis  Christi.  (S.  Cyprien.)  Maria  altare  terrenum.  (Pierre 
de  Celles.)  \ 

78.  Maria  forma  Dei.  (S.  Augustin,  serm.  de  l’Assompt.) 

78.  Maria  pignus  promissionis.  (Absalom  de  Trêves.)  Maria  Alleluia  fide- 
lium.  (S.  Ansebue  de  Canterbury.) 


< 


t 


10  APPENDIX, ; 

82.  Gabriel,  Angélus  dominicæ  incarnation  is  nuntius,  fuit  unus  de  supremo 
Choro,  seu  de  Seraphinis.  (Virgilius  Sedlmayr,  Theologia  Mariana. — S.  Grégoire 
le  Grand,  S.  Jean  Damascene,  S.  Basile,  S.  Laurent  Justinien.) 

82.  Cui  et  servanda  ab  initio  fuisse  creditur.  (S.  Bernard,  Lettre  à  Hugues  de 
Saint- Victor.)  Tota  Yirginis  causa  Gabrieli  a  Domino  commissa  prædicatur. 

(S.  Ildetonse,  S.  Fpiphane,  Eusèbe  d’Emôse,  St0  Brigitte,  S.  Pierre  Damien,  Sua¬ 
rez.) 

82.  Aliqui  homines  etiam  in  statu  viæ  sunt  majores  aliquibus  Angelis,  non 
quidem  actu  sed  virtute,  in  quantum  scilicet  habent  caritatem  tantæ  viriutis  ut 
possint  merbri  majorem  beatitudinis  gradum  quam  quidam  Angeli  habeant: 
sicut  si  dicamus  semen  alicujus  magnæ  arboris  esse  maj us  virtute  quam  aliquam 
parvam  arborem,  cum  tamen  multo  minus  sit  in  actu.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  117, 
art.  2.) 

83.  Hic  iste  Gabriel,  <âymmystes  tuus.  (Guerricu3,  in  Assumpt.,  2.) 

83.  Sodales,  inquit,  estis  sponsi;  Gabriel  iste  meus  paranymphus.  (Guerricus, 
in  Assumpt .,  2.) 

84.  Yirgo  meus,  novus  in  carne  Angélus.  (Guerricus,  in  Assumpt ,,  2.) 

84.  Duo  leones  tbroni  Salomonis  sunt  Gabriel  Archangelus  et  Joannes  evan- 
gelista,  quorum  alter  dextræ  Virginis,  alter  sinistræ  deputatus  est  custos;  Ga¬ 
briel  enim  mentem,  Joannes  carnem  pervigili  sollicitudine  servaverunt.  (S. 
Pierre  Damien,  sur  la  Nativité  de  Marie.) 

87.  De  Angelorum  manibus  cibos  suscipiebat.  (Georgius  Nicomediensis.) 
Maria,  ambrosiis  dapibus  ab  Angelo  nutrita  ac  sacro  potata  ad  alteram  usque 
ætatem.  (S.  Germain  de  Constantinople,  Sermon. — S.  Jérôme,  S.  Bonaventure.) 

88.  Eadem  post  mille  annos  e  Galilæa  et  Nazareth  ab  Angelis  translata  est  in 
Dalmatiam,  inde  in  Italiam,  puta  Lauretum  ubi  etiam num  consistit  et  totius  or-  / 
bis  concursu  pie  visitur.  (Corn,  à  Lap.,  sur  saint  Luc ,  c.  1,  v.  26.) 

90.  Quid  post  Ascensionem  Domini  Maria  egerit,  quam  sancte  et  juste  vixerit 
et  cum  quibus  habitaverit,  soli  Deo  cognitum  esse  videtur  et  Gabrieli  Archan- 
gelo  cui  ejus  tota  causa  commissa  esse  prædicatur  a  Domino  et  Angelis  sibi  col- 
lætantibus  secumque  loque ntibus,  Joanni  etiam  dilecto  discipulo  qui  ab  ipsa 
crime  earn  suscepit  in  sua sollicitudine  et  cura.  (Juvenalis,  archiepiseopus  hiero- 
solymitauus.) 

91.  Significat  itaque  his  qui  convenerunt  id  quod  ei  Filius  per  Angelum  nun- 
tiaverat:  ostendit  autem  bravium  quod  similiter  ab  eo  datum  fuerat:  id  vero 
erat  ramus  palmæ,  signum  victoriæ  mortis  et  vitæ  imago  immortalis.  (Simeon 
Metaphraste,  de  Dorm.  Mariae.) 

91.  Laudes  dignas  canebant  Angeli  præcurrentes,  deducentes,  conséquentes. 
Partim  quidem  sanctissimam  et  nulli  culpæ  affinem  animam  comitantes  et  simul 
ascendentes,  donee  regali  throno  vidissent  reginam  ;  partim  autem  divinum  et 
sacrum  corpus  circumdantes  et  canticis  quæ  Angelis  digna  erant  Dei  Matri  célé¬ 
brantes.  (S.  Joan.  Damascenus,  de  Dorm.  Deiparæ.) 

92.  Quod  si  ad  recreandam  spem  et  corroborandam  fidem  interdum  assisten- 
tium  Salvator  Christus,  ob  mérita  suorum  comprobanda,  talia  et  tanta  dignatus 
est  exbibere  per  suos  ministros  Angelos  circa  defunctos  :  quanto  magis  creden- 
dum  est  hodierna  die  militiam  cœlorum  cum  suis  agminibus  festive  obviam  ve- 
nisse  Genitrici  Dei  eamque  ingenti  lumine  circumfulsisse  et  usque  ad  thronum 


APPENDIX.  11 

olim  sibi  etiam  ante  mundi  constitutionem  paratum  cum  laudibus  et  canticis 
spiritualibus  perduxisse!  (S.  Sophronius,  de  Dorm,.  Deiparæ.) 

92.  Ex  antiqua  et  verissiina  accepimus  traditione,  quod  tempore  ejus  gloriosæ 
dormitionis,  universi  quidem  sancti  apostoli  qui  orbem  terræ  ad  salutem  gen¬ 
tium  abibant,  momento  temporis  sublime  sublati  convenerimt  Hierosolymis. 
(Juvenalis  patriarcha  Hierosol.) 

92.  Qpiapost  Christum  ut  hominem  nullum  estobjectum  secundarium  beatitu- 
dinis  tantæ  dignitatis  et  excellentiæ  in  quo  divina  sapientia  et  potentia  ita  re- 
splendeat  sicut  beatissima  Virgo...  Angeli  sancti  non  carent  bae  perfectione 
beatitudinis  suæ.  (Suarez,  lib.  6,  c.  5,  n.  10.) 

95.  Corpus  Deiparæ  Virginis  fuit  depositum  Gethzemane:  quo  in  loco  Angelo- 
rum  chorea  et  hymnodia  mansit  très  dies  perpetuos.  Post  très  dies  autem,  an¬ 
gelica  cessante  hymnodia,  qui  aderant  apostoli,  loculum  aperuerunt:  sed  inte- 
meratum  quidem  et  ex  omni  parte  laudandum  corpus  nequaquam  invenire 
potuerunt.  Cum  ea  autem  sola  invenisseut  in  quibus  fuerat  compositum  et 
positum  et  ineffabili  qui  ex  his  ptoficiscebatur  essent  odore  repleti,  loculum 
clauserunt.  (Juvenalis,  patriarcha  Hierosolymitanus.) 

97.  Terribilis  ut  castrorum  acies  ordinata.  (Cant.,  c.  0.  v.  3.)  Maria  singularis 
terror  spirituum  malignorum,  specialis  amor  spirituum  beatorum.  (S.  Pierre 
Damien,  Sermon  sur  l'Assomption.)  Ipsa  enim  tantum  dæmonibus  est  terribilis 
quantum  Angelis  et  sanctis  exstitit  venerabilis.  (Richard  de  Saint-Laurent  de 
Laud.  B.  M.  V.) 

98.  Regina  cœli,  lætare,  alleluia  ! 

Quia  quern  meruisti  portare,  alleluia  ! 

Resurrexit,  sicut  dixit,  alleluia! 

98.  Ora  pro  nobis  Deum,  alleluia! 

98.  En  l’année  590.  Le  pape  était  saint  Grégoire  le  Grand.  L’Ange  apparut 
au-dessus  du  môle  d’Adrien,  appelé  depuis  le  château  Sainte-Ange. — Carolus 
Siconius,  Canisius,  Pompeius  Ugonius,  Ordo  Romanus,  Baronius. 

100.  Propter  nos  homines  et  propter  nostram  salutem  descendit  de  cœlis. 
(Symbole  de  Nicée.)  Non  pro  Angelis  mortuus  est  Christus.  {Theologia  Claro- 
montensis,  de  Merito  Christi.)  Thomistæ  et  alii  communissime.  (S.  Augustin 
ad  Laurentium ,  c.  61.) 

100.  Traité  de  l'Amour  de  Dieu,  2e  partie,  c.  20. 

102.  Hodie  Angeli  et  Archangeli  naturam  nostram  in  sede  dominica  immortali 
gloria  fulgentem  viderunt.  (S.  Chrysost.,  Serm.  sur  l'Ascens.) 

103.  Multuru  tangit  Angelos  nostra  salus,  et  nostram  quasi  suam  sic  existi- 
mant.  (S.  Thomas  de  Villeneuve,  Sermon  sur  les  Anges.)  Cum  nostra  bona  sua 
esse  ducant.  (S.  Chrysostome,  Serm.  sur  V Ascension.) 

104  Supremuin  infimi  ordinis  attingit  infimum  supremi.  (S.  Thomas.)  Homo 
est  finis,  complexio,  nodus  et  centrum  omnium  creaturarum.  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  sur 
la  Genèse,  c.  1.) 

104.  Propter  hoc  homo  dicitur  minor  jnundus,  quia  omnes  creaturæ  mundi 
quodammodo  inveniuntur  in  eo.  (S.  Thom.,  1,  q.  91,  art.  1.) 

105.  In  confinio  spiritualium  et  corporalium  creaturarum.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q. 
77,  art,  2.) 

107.  Homo  in  statu  innocentiæ  dominibatur  plantis  et  rebus  maniinatis.  non 


12 


APPENDIX. 


per  imperium  vel  immutationem,  sed  absque  impedimento  utendo  eorum  aux- 
ilio.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  96,  art.  2.) 

Quandiu  manebat  Deo  subjecta,  inferiora  ei  subdebantur.  (S.  Aug.,  de  la  Rê- 
miss ,  des  pêchés,  1.  1,  c.  16.) 

108.  Ministerio  Angelorum  animalia  sunt  adducta  ad  Adam,  ut  eis  nomina 
imponeret.  (S.  Aug.,  sur  la  Genèse,  c.  9.) 

108.  Tunc  omnia  animalia  per  seipsa  homini  obedivissent,  sicut  nunc  quædam 
domestica  ei  obediunt.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  96,  art.  1.) 

168.  Deus  fecit  bominem  rectum.  Erat  hæc  rectitudo  secundum  hoc  quod 
ratio  subdebatur  Deo,  rationi  vero  inferiores  vires,  et  animæ  corpus.  Prima 
autem  subjectio  erat  causa  et  secundæ  et  tertiæ.  Quandiu  enim  ratio  manebat 
Deo  subjecta  inferiora  ei  subdebantur.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  95,  art.  1^) 

109.  Homini  stanti  lapsus  invidit.  (S.  Aug.,  de  Doct.  christ.,  c.  7. 

111.  Qui  dixit  ad  mulierem  :  Cur  præcepit  vobis  Deus  ut  non  comederetis  de 
omni  ligno  paradisi  ?  Cui  respondit  mulier:  De  fructu  lignorum.  quæ  sunt  in 
paradiso  vescimur  :  de  fructu  vero  ligni  quod  est  in  medio  paradisi  præcepit 
nobis  Deus  ne  comederemus  et  ne  tangeremus  ne  forte  moriamur.  Dixit  autem 
serpens  ad  mulierem:  Nequaquam  morte  moriemini.  Scit  enim  Deus  quod  iu 
quocumque  die  comederetis  ex  eo,  aperientur  oculi  vestri,  et  eritis  sicut  dii,  sci^ 
entes  bonum  et  malum.  (Gen.,  c.  3,  v.  1-5.) 

112.  Cum  homo  peccasset  ac  mortis  sententiam  subiisset,  admodum  dolebant 
Angeli  quasi  de  universo  despei antes,  quippe  cum  homo  universi  rerum  opifi- 
cii  vinculum  ac  imago  Dei  sit.  (Cosmas  endicopleustes  Topographia  christ.,  1.  2.) 

112.  Et.  aperti  sunt  oculi  amborum.  (Gen.,  c.  3,  v.  7.) 

113.  Cumque  cognovissent  se  esse  nudos  consuerunt  folia  ficus  et  feceruntsibi 
perizomata.  (Gen.,  c.  3,  v.  7.) 

113.  Et  emisit  eum  Dominus  Deus  de  paradiso  voluptatis  ut  operaretur  terram 
dequasumptus  est.  Ejecitque  Adam  :  et  collocavit  ante  paradisian  vo  uptatis 
Cherubim  et  flammeum  gladium  atque  versatilem,  ad  custodiendam  viam  ligni 
vitæ.  (Gen.,  c.  3,  v.  23,  24.) 

114.  Primo  parenti  inobedienti  obedientiam  debitam  negavere  cætera  animalia 
paulo  ante  ei  a  Deo  subjecta.  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  sur  les  Proverbes,  c.  21,  v.  28.) 

115.  Maledicta  terrain  opéré  tuo:  in  laluoribus  comedes  ex  ea  cunctis  diebus 
vitæ  tuæ.  Spinas  et  tribulos  germinabit  tibi.  In  sudore  vultus  tui  vesceris 
pane.  (Gen.,  c.  3,  v.  17,  18, 19.)  Per  peccatum  Adæ  primæva  terræ  bonitas  et 
fertilitas  impedita  et  imminuta  fuit,  ideoque  crebriores  et  pluribus  in  locis  jam 
germinat  tribulos  et  spinas,  quam.  ante  peccatum  germinabat.  (Corn,  a  Lap., 
sur  la  Genèse,  c.  3,  v.  17.) 

116.  Etiamsi  primi  homines  non  peccassent,  aliqui  ex  eorum  stirpe  potuissent 
iniquitatem  committere.  Non  ergo  nascerentur  in  justitia  confirmati.  (S. 
Thomas,  1,  q.  100,  art.  2.) 

116.  Hæc  eduxit  ilium  a  delicto  suo.  (Sagesse,  c.  10,  v.  2.)  Hinc  patet  Adamum 
pœnituisse  de  suo  inobedientiæ  peccato  ideoque  illud  ipsi  fuisse  rèmissum.  Imo 
veteres  ex  communi  Ecclesiæ  traditioue  et  consensu  tradunt  Adamum  esse  sal- 
vatum:  quare  temerarium  est  id  negare  et  lavet  hic  Sapientiæ  locus.  (Corn,  a 
Lap.,  sur  le  Livre  de  la  Sagesse,  c.  10.) 

117.  Communis  est  patruni  sententia  Adamum  in  monte  Calvariæ  esse  sopul- 


APPENDIX. 


IB 


turn,  ut  qui  primus  peccati  fuerit  auctor,  primus  vim  sanguinis  Christi  in  eodem 
crucifixi  sentiens  salvaretur.  Ita  censent  Athanasius,  Origines,  Basilius,  Chry- 
sostomus,  Epiphanius,  Tertullianus,  Cyprianus,  Augustinus,  Ambrosius,  Hiero¬ 
nymus.  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  sur  le  Livre  de  la  Sagesse,  c.  10.) 

118.  Ab  initio  generis  humani,  Incarnatiouis  mysterium  fuisse  Angelorum 
ministerio  prænuntiatum  et  præfiguratum.  (S.  Aug.,  Cité,  1.  7,  c.  32.) 

120.  Viditque  Jacob  scalam  stantem  super  terram  et  cacumen  ilium  tangens 
cœlum  :  Angelos  quoque  Dei  ascendentes  et  descendentes  per  earn  et  Dominum. 
innixum  scalæ.  (Gen.,  c.  28,  v.  12,  13.) 

120.  Angeli  ascendunt  et  descendunt  quasi  ministri  et  executores  providentiæ 
Dei,  quibus  Deus  sigillatim  sua  munia  cuique  distribuit.  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  sur  la 
Genèse,  c.  8.) 

120.  S.  Otkon,  S.  Eugende,  S.  Sadoth,  Ste  Bathilde. 

121.  Ipsa  conteret  caput  tuum.  ( Genèse ,  c.  3,  v.  15.) 

122.  Et  tu  insidiaberis  calcaneo  ejus.  (Gen.,  c.  3,  v.  15.) 

122.  Ut  in  Deo  puniente  vindictam  sumat  adoritur  ejus  imaginem  qua  utitur 
velut  malitiæ  suæ  instrumento  ut  divinum  illud  exemplar  offendat.  (Vivien 
sur  saint  Michel.) 

122.  Porrigit  pomum  et  surripit  paradisum.  (S.  Bernard,  de  Grad.  Humilit.) 

122.  Naturæ  suæ  viribus  humana  omnia  superat  diabolus.  (S.  Greg.,  Morales 
1.  34.) 

12?.  Tormentum  autem  et  cruciatum  putant  dæmones  si  non  permittantur 
lædere  homines.  (Théophy  lacté,  sur  saint  Matthieu.) 

123.  Vadit  et  assumit  septein  alios  spiritus  secum  nequiores  se.  (S.  Matth.,  c, 
12,  v.  45.) 

123.  Nalitus  ejus  prunas  ardere  facit  et  flamma  de  ore  ejus  egreditur...  Sub 
ipso  erunt  radii  solis  et  sternet  sibi  auruin  quasi  lutum.  (Job,  c.  41,  v.  12,  21.) 

124.  Interrogavit  autem  ilium  Jesus,  dicens  :  Quod  tibi  nomenest?  At  ille 
dixit  :  Legio:  quia  intraverant  dæmonia  multi  in  eum.  (S.  Luc,  c.  8,  v.  30.) 

124.  Multi  etiam  absque  diabolo  pereunt.  (S.  Chrysost.,  Hom.  64  in  Acta.) 

125.  Ipsi  amant  nos  quia  Christus  nos  amavit,  (S.  Bernard,  sur  saint  Michel.) 
Diligunt  nos  propter  Deum  cujus  misericordiæ  viscera  vident  effusa  circa  nos. 
(Pierre  de  Blois,  sur  samt  Michel.) 

126  Nonne  oiunes  sunt  administratorii  spiritus,  in  ministerium  missi  propter 
eos  qui  hæreditatem  capient  salutis?  (S.  Paul,  Epît.  aux  Hébr.,  e.  1,  v.  14.) 

126.  Noli  timere,  plures  enim  nobiscum  sunt  quam  cum  illis.  (Liv.  4  des  Rois, 
c.  6,  v.  16. 

126.  Deus  illo  opéré  Providentiæ  quo  creatas  naturas  administrât  subdit  An¬ 
gelos  malos  Angelis  bonis  ut  malorum  improbitas,  non  quantum  nititur,  sed 
quantum  sinitur  possit.  (S.  Aug.,  sur  la  Genèse,  1.  2,  c.  29.) 

127.  Angélus  officium  sibi  injunctum  explet  quantum  in  se  est  et  non  quan¬ 
tum  in  homkie.  Culpa  in  hominis  fragilitatem  et  non  in  Angelum  est  reior- 
quenda.  (Pierre  de  Poitiers,  Sentences,  1.  2,  é.  6.) 

127.  Angelis  suis  mandavit  de  te  ut  custodiant  te  in  omnibus  viis  tuis.  (P.  90, 
v.  IL)  Neque  Angelis  mandavit  ut  in  omnibus  viis  custodiant  nos,  sed  in  om¬ 
nibus  viis  nostris.  (S.  Bernard,  Serm.  12,  sur  le  Ps.  90.) 

127.  Qui  arnat  periculum  in  illo  peribit.  (Ecclésiastique,  c.  3,  v.  27.) 


14 


APPENDIX. 


129.  Nunquam  quiescunt  Angeli  in  opéré  salutis  nostræ;  nimirum  quia  op¬ 
time  norunt  quanta  res  sit  in  æternum  damnari  vel  salvari  nos.  (S.  Bernard, 
Cant.,  Serin.  19.) 

129.  Angelica  natura  de  se  infœcunda  est,  nec  ullus  Angelus  alium  Angelum 
gignere  valet;  inest  tamen  Angelis  fœcund  avis  quædam  per  modum  genituræ 
spiritualis  qua  ad  vitales  excitât  partitudines.  In  ordine  gratiæ  Angelus  spirit- 
alem  generat  liominem,  dum  ei  sanctitatem  spiral.  (Vivien,  Angelus.) 

130.  Homines  illuminantur  ab  Angelis  non  solum  de  credéndis,  sed  etiam  de 
agendis.  (S.  Thomas,  q.  Ill,  art.  1.) 

131.  Non  quicumque  illuminatur  ab  Angelo  cognoscit  se  ab  Angelo  illuminari. 
(S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  Ill,  art.  1.) 

131.  Vade,  et  vide  si  cuncta  prospéra  sint  erga  fratres  tuos  et  renuntia  mihi 
quid  agatur...  Invenitque  eum  vir  errantem  in  agro  et  interrogavit  quid  quæ- 
reret.  At  ille  respondit:  Fratres  meos  quæro.  (Gen.,  c.  37,  v.  14,  15, 16.) 

132.  Tunica  filii  mei  est;  fera  pessima  comedit  eum  ;  bestia  devoravit  Joseph. 
(Gen.,  c.  37,  v.  33.) 

132.  Cujus  tanta  erga  nos  misericordiæ  viscera  ipsi  quoque,  ut  dignum  est, 
imitantur.  (S.  Bernard,  sur  saint  Michel.) 

132.  Ibi  nulla  miseria  in  qua  fiat  misericordiæ.  (S.  Aug.,  sur  le  Ps.  148.) 

135.  Ad  perdendos  ergo  adversarios  suos  exereitum  mittit,  quia  nimirum  vin- 
dictam  Tominus  per  Angelos  exercet.  (S.  Grégoire,  Horn.) 

135.  Sicut  et  ira  quandoque  Deo  attribuitur  propter  similitudinem  effectus... 
Universaliter  nihil  horum  dicitur  de  Angelis  secundum  passionem.  (S.  Thomas, 
1,  q.  59,  art.  4.) 

136.  Manet  dissimilitudo  passorum  etiam  in  similitudine  passionum.  Una 
eademque  vis  irruens  bonos  probat,  purificat,  eliquat,  malos  damnat,  vastat, 
exterminât.  Non  qualia  sed  qualis  quisque  patiatur  attendendum  est.  (S.  Au¬ 
gustin,  Cité,  1.  1,  c.  8.) 

137.  Paradisus  Dei  testibus  floret?  (S.  Cyprien,  de  Laud.  Martyrum.) 

138.  Angelus  autem  Domini  descèndit  cum  Azaria  et  sociis  ejus  in  fornacem, 
et  excussit  flammam  ignis  de  fornace,  et  fecit  medium  fornacis  quasi  ventum 
roris  flantem  et  non  tetigit  eos  omnino  ignis.  (Daniel,  c.  3,  v.  49,  50. —  Vies  de 
sainte  Tatienne,  de  sainte  Christine ,  de  sainte  Erasme.) 

138.  Erat  enim  aqua  quasi  murus  a  dextra  eorum  et  a  sinistra.  (Exode,  c.  14, 
v.  22.)  Aquæ  quæ  inferiores  sunt  decurrent  atque* deficient  ;  quæ  autem  desu- 
per  veniunt  in  una  mole  consistent.  (Josué,  c.  3,  v.  13. —  Vies  de  saint  Benoit,  de 
saint  Maur,  de  saint  Filanus.) 

138.  Et  apprehendit  eum  (Habacuc)  Angelus  Domini  in  vertice  ejus  et  portavit 
eum  capiilo  capitis  sui,  posuitque  eum  in  Babylone.  (Daniel,  c.  14,  v.  35.) 

138.  Angelus  autem  Domini  per  noctem  aperiens  januas  carceris  et  educens 
eos  (Apostolos)  dixit:  Ite.  (Actes,  c.  5,  v.  19,  20. —  Vies  de  saint  Polit,  de  saint 
Thyrse ,  de  saint  Julien  du  Alans.  Bollandistes.) 

139.  Deus  meus  misit  Angelum  suum  et  conclusit  ora  leonum  et  non  nocue- 
runt  mihi.  (Daniel,  c.  6,  v.  22  .  —  Vies  des  saints  Faustin,  Jovite,  Tyrannion,  Venant, 
Pantaléon,  Sennen,  Alammês,  Euslache,  Chrysante,  Emilian;  des  saintes  Marci- 
enne,  Prisque,  Blandine,  Colombe,  Thècle,  Baric.  Bollandistes.) 

139.  Vits  de  saint  Carterius,  de  saint  Chromace,  de  saint  Bénigne,  de  sainte  Macre , 
de  saint  Jean  de  Mathéra.  (Bollandistes.) 


APPENDIX. 


15 


139.  Auxillium  périclitantes  consequuntur  nec  sciunt.  (S.  Maxime  de  Turin. 
• — Vies  de  saint  Sévère,  de  saint  Oringa.de  saint  Philippe  de  Néri.  Bollandistes.) 

139.  Vocavitque  Angelus  Dei  Agar  de  cœlo,  dicens:  Quid  agis,  Agar?  Noli 
timere:  exaudivit  enim  Deus  vocem  pueri  de  loco  in  quo  est.  Surge,  toile  pue- 
rum  et  tene  uianum  illius  quia  in  gentem  magnein  faciam  eum.  Aperuit  ocu- 
los  ej  jS  Deus  :  quæ  videns  puteum  aquæ  abiit  et  iinplevit  utrem  deditque  puero 
bibere.  (Gen.,  c.  21,  v.  17,  18,  19. —  Vies  de  saint  Pontien,  de  saint  Néophyte,  de 
sainte  Alexandra,  de  sainte  Véronique  de  Milan.  Bollandistes.) 

139.  Vies  de  sainte  Julienne,  de  sainte  Martine,  de  saint  Ephysius,  de  saint  Julien 
d'Antioche.  Bollandistes.) 

139.  Vies  de  saint  Laurent  Justinien,  de  saint  Luan,  de  saint  Henri  d' Angleterre, 
de  saint  Antoine,  de  saint  Speusippe,  de  sainte  Génulphe,  de  saint  Anastase,  de  sainte 
Justine.  (Bollandistes.) 

140.  Vies  de  saint  Paul,  ermite  ;  de  saint  Maxime,  de  saint  Mauronce,  de  saint  Cê- 
adda,  de  saint  Palémon,  de  saint  Orniga,  de  saint  David,  de  saint  Euthyme.  (Bol¬ 
landistes.) 

140.  Factum  est  autem  ut  moreretur  meudicus  et  portaretur  ab  Angelis  in  si- 
num  Abrahæ.  (S.  Luc,  c.  16,  v.  22.)  Non  suffecerat  ad  portandum  pauperem 
unus  Angelus;  sed  plures  veniuntut  chorum  lætitiæ  faciant:  gaudet  unusquis- 
que  Angelorum  tantum  onus  tangere.  Libenter  talibus  oneribus  prægravantur 
ut  homines  ducant  ad  régna  cœlorum.  (S.  Chrysost.,  Horn,  sur  Lazare.) 

140.  Si  aliqua  purgalione  indigent,  sancti  Angeli  eas  deducunt  usque  ad  pur- 
gatorii  locum  ibique  eas  visitant  et  consolantur.  (Suarez,  1.  6,  c.  19,  n.  9.) 

140.  Vies  de  saint  Maur,  de  saint  Melanius,  de  saint  Rigobert,  de  saint  Simêon 
Stylite,  de  saint  Hilaire,  de  saint  Quinlin,  de  saint  Vincent  de  Saragosse.  (Bollan¬ 
distes.) 

140.  Vies  de  saint  Oronaire,  de  saint  Congal,  de  sainte  Gudile,de  sainte  Geneviève , 
de  saint  Grégoire  le  Thaumaturge.  (Bollandistes.) 

141.  Vies  de  sainte  Juette,  de  sainte  Ida,  de  sainte  Colette,  de  saint  Raymond  de 
Pennafort,  de  sainte  Rose  de  IJma.  (Bollandistes.) 

141.  Obsecro,  inquit,  ne  irascaris,  Domine,  si  loquar  adhuc  semel  :  quid  si  in- 
venti  fuerint  ibi  decem?  Et  dixit:  Non  delebo  propter  decem.  (Gen.,  c,  18, 
v.  32.) 

141.  Ecce  etiam  in  hoc  suscepi  preces  tuas  ut  non  subvertam  urbem  pro  qua 
locutus  es.  (Gen.,  c.  19,  v.  21.) 

141.  Astitit  enim  mihi  in  hac  nocte  Angelus  Dei  cujus  sum  ego  et  cui  deservio, 
dicens:  Ne  timeas,  Paule,  Cæsari  te  oportet  assistere:  et  ecce  donavit  tibi  Deus 
omnes  qui  navigant  tecum.  (Actes,  c.  27,  v.  25,  26.) 

142.  Lacryma  aut  facit  aut  invenit  paradisum.  (Pierre  de  Celles,  des  Pains, 

1.  12.) 

142.  Gaudent  et  Angeli  de  pœnitentia  hominis  peceatoris,  quia  destruitur 
culpa,  restituitur  justitia,  confutatur  dæmonum  superbia,  efficax  effieitur  An¬ 
gelorum  custodia,  reparatur  Ecclesia,  placatur  ira  divina  et  restauratur  Hieru- 
salem  superna.  (S.  Bonav.) 

143.  Christus  tune  nascitur  qui  prius  immaniter  occisus  fuerat  et  ad  novum 
ortum  Domini  hic  lætatur  ac  cauit  militia  cœlestis:  lit  nativitas  ilia  solemn itas 
Angelorum  illudque  canticum  iteratur  quod  olim  a  pastoribus  auditum  est: 
quia  ille  Salvatoris  ortus  gloriam  Deo  et  homini  reddidit  pacern  quam  olim  tur- 
baverat  mala  voluntas.  (Vivien,  Angelus.) 


16 


APPENDIX. 


44.  0  conditionis  inquitatem  non  ferendam!  Ego  e  ccelo  ejectus  sum  ob 
unam  brevissimam  inobedientiam.  Tu  capita  vilissima  criminum  acervis  ob- 
ruta  in  regnurû  cœlorum  inducis.  (  Vie  de  sainte  Eudoxie.  Bollandistes.) 

145.  Ecce  videntes  clamabunt  foris,  Angeli  pacis  amare  flebunt.  (Isaïe,  c.  33, 
v.  7.)  Flebant  dimittentes  animam  dæmonibus.  (S.  Antonin,  Somme  thêol,  3e 
partie.) 

146.  Ego  pro  istis  quos  mecum  vides  nec  alapas  accepi,  nee  flagella  sustinui, 
nec  crucem  pertuli,  necsanguinem  fudi,  nec  fan^liam  meam  pretio  passionis  et 
cruoris  redemi  ;  sed  nec  regnum  illis  cœleste  promitto,  nec  ad  paradisuin  resti- 
tuta  immortalitate  denuo  revoco.  (S.  Cyprien,  de  Opéré  et  Eleemosynis.) 

146.  Et  munera  mihi  quam  pretiosa,  quam  grandia...  comparant!  (S.  Cyprien, 
de  Opéré  et  Eleemosynis.) 

147.  Dæmones  sunt  executores  justitiæ  in  malos.  Nec  ob  hoc  minuitur  ali- 
quid  de  dæmonum  pœna,  quia  in  hoc  etiain  quod  alios  torquent,  ipsi  torque- 
buntur.  Ibi  enim  miserorum  societas  miseriam  non  minuet,  sed  augebit.  (S. 
Thomas,  Supplem,  q.  89,  art.  4.) 

147.  Dæmonibus  cachinnis  crepitantibus  et  multum  exultantibus.  (Bède, 

Histoire,  1.  5,  c.  13.) 

/ 

148.  Per  gentes  et  civitates  divisæ  sunt  Angelorum  præfeeturæ...  Jussu  divino 
et  antiquo  per  gentes  sunt  distributi  Angeli.  (Clemens  Alex.,  Strom.,  1.  7.)  Kegna 
et  gentes  sub  Angelis  positæ  sunt.  (S.  Epiphanius,  Hceres.,  51. — Suarez,  1.  6,  c. 
17,  n.  22.)  Ornnes  generatim. 

118.  Alia  vero  est  custodia  universalis  ;  et  hæc  multiplicatur  secundum  di- 
versos  ordines;  nam  quanto  agens  fuerit  universalius,  tanto  est  superius.  Sic 
igitur  custodia  humanæ  multitudinis  pertinet  ad  ordinem  Piincipatuum,  vel 
forte  ad  Archangelos  qui  dicuntur  principes  Angelorum.  (S.  Thomas,  q.  113, 
art.  3.) 

149.  Et  visio  per  noctem  Paulo  ostensa  est  :  Yir  Macedo  quidam  erat  stans  et 
deprecans  eum  et  dicens:  Transiens  in  Macedonian!,  adjuva  nos.  (Actes,  c.  16, 
v.  9.)  Videtur  hic  Angélus  fuisse  tutelaris  et  præses  Macedoniæ.  (Corn,  a  Lap., 
sur  ce  passage.)  Simili  visione  sanctus  Franciscus  Xaverius  cognovit  se  vocari 
in  Inciam.  (Horatius  Tursellinus,  in  Vita  S.  Xav.,  1.  1,  c.  8.) 

152.  Eum  quippe  constitutum  esse  decet  principem  super  populo  Dei  qui  mili- 
tiæ  cœlestis  obtinuit  principatum,  potiorisque  conditionis  esse  debet  Ecclesia 
quam  omnia  régna  mundi.  ( Theologia  Claromontensis,  c  4,  art.  2.) 

153.  Docent  SS.  Patres  singulis  Ecclesiis  regendis  et  custodiendis  præfici  An¬ 
gelos.  ( Theologia  Claromontensis,  c.  4,  art.  2.)  Yult  Deus.  singulos  Angelos  Ec- 
clesiarum  singularum  sibi  commissarum  custodes  esse.  (Eusèbe,  sur  le  Ps.  47.) 
Angelis  hujus  urbis  cura  commissa  est...  Nec  enim  mihi  dubiuin  est  quin  alii 
aliarum  Ecciesiarum  præsides  et  patroni  sint,  quemadmodum  in  Apocalypsi 
Joannes  me  docet...  (S.  Grég.  de  Naz.,  Disc.  32.) 

153.  Quidni  maxime  delectantur  in  his  quæ  formam  quamdam  civitatis  suse 
repræsentant  in  nobis  ut  mirentur  Hierusalem  novam  in  terra.  (S.  Bern.,  sur 

•  i 

saint  Michel.) 

153.  Solent  Angeli  astare  orantibus  et  delectari  in  his  quos  vident  levare  puras 
manus  in  oratione:  holocaustum  sanctæ  devotionis  gaudent  se  oflerre  Deo  in 
odorem  suavitatis.  (S.  Bern,,  Horn.,  3,  super  Missus  est.) 


\ 


APPENDIX. 


17 


154.  Et  alius  Angélus  venit  et  stetit  ante  altare  habens  thuribulum  aureum  : 
et  data  sunt  illi  incensa  multa  ut  daret  de  orationibus  sanctorum  omnium  super 
altare  aureum  quod  est  ante  tbronum  Dei.  Et  ascendit  fumus  incensorum  de 
orationibus  sanctorum  de  manu  Angeli  coram  Deo.  (Apoc.,  c.  8,  v.  3,  4.) 

154.  Scriptura  ditens  quoniam  ascendit  fumus  aromatum  in  coqspectu  Domini 
de  manu  Angeli,  sollicite  præmisit  data  ei  fuisse  incensa  multa.  (S.  Bern.,  sur 
saint  Michel.) 

154.  Nostros  sudores  non  suos  ;  nostras  non  suas  lacrymas  offerunt  Deo.  No¬ 
bis  quoque  ejus  mimera  referunt  non  sua.  (S.  Bern.,  sur  saint  Michel.) 

154.  Ager  autem  non  terra  solum  sed  corda  intelliguntur  bumana  quern  agrum 
Angeli  susceperunt  excolendum.  (Origène.  sur  les  Nombres ,  11.) 

154.  Alacri  discursu  jugiter  meant  inter  cœlum  et  terrant  quasi  apes  negoti- 
osæ  inter  alvearia  et  flores,  disponentes  omnia  suaviter.  (S.  Anselm.,  Médit.,  13.) 

155.  Bene  tecum  agitur,  O  Mater  Ecclesia,  bene  tecum  agitur  in  loco  peregrina- 
tionis  tuæ:  de  cœlo  et  de  terra  venit  auxilium  tibL  Qui  custodiunt  te  non  dor- 
mitant  neque  dormiunt  custodes  tui,  Angeli  sancti,  vigiles  tui  et  animæ  justo- 
rum.  (S.  Bern.,  Serm.  77  in  Cant.) 

156.  Præter  omnia  et  ante  omnia  clamabo  :  Yalete,  Angeli  hujus  Ecclesiæ  præ- 
sides.  (S.  Grég.  de  Naz.,  Adieux  aux  Anges  de  son  Eglise  en  quittant  Constanti¬ 
nople,  Disc.  32.) 

156.  Evêque  des  Etats  romains  venu  en  France  avec  Pie  VII.  Il  était  en 
résidence  à  Trévoux  et  visitait  cette  petite  église  d’Ars  qui  devait  être  illus¬ 
trée  plus  tard  par  la  sainteté  de  son  curé.  Voir  la  Vie  de  M.  Vianney. 

157.  Angelis  suis  mandavit  de  te  ut  custodiant  te  in  omnibus  viis  fuis.  (Ps. 
90,  v.  11.)  Angeli  eorum  in  cœlis  semper  vident  faciem  patris  mei  qui  in  cœlis 
est.  (Matth.,  c.  18,  v.  10.)  Magna  dignitas  animarum  ut  unaquæque  babeat  ab 
ortu  nativitatis  suæ  in  custodiam  sui  Jtngelum  deputatum.  (S.  Jérôme,  sur  ce 
passage  de  saint  Matthieu.) 

157.  Etsi  non  juventur  quantum  ad  hoc  quod  vit  am  æternam  bonis  operibus 
mereantur,  juvantur  tamen  quantum  ad  hoc  quod  ab  aliquibus  malis  retrahan- 
tur,  quibus  et  sibi  ipsis  et  aliis  nocere  possent.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  113,  art.  4.) 

157.  In  actibus  Apostolorum  legitur  singulos  discipulos  quibusdam  Angelis  ' 
traditos  esse.  Renuntiante  enim  puella  Petrum  esse  qui  pulsaverat,  reliqui 
discipuli  dixerunt:  Angélus  ejus  est.  (Eusèbe  de  Césarée,  sur  le  Ps.  47.) 

158.  Christus,  secundum  quod  homo,  immediate  regulabatur  a  Yerbo  Dei. 
Unde  non  indigebat  custodia  Angelorum.  Et  iterum  secundum  animam  erat 
comprehensor.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q,  113,  art.  4.) 

158.  Singulis  hominibus  singuli  Angeli  ad  custodiam  deputantur.  (S.  Tho¬ 
mas,  1,  q.  113,  art.  2.)  , 

158.  Est  autem  probabile  quod  majores  Angeli  deputentur  ad  custodiam 
eorum  qui  sunt  ad  majorem  gradum  gloriæ  a  Deo  electi.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  113, 
art.  3.) 

158.  Angélus  custos  nunquam  total i ter  dimittit  hominem,sed  ad  aliquid  inter- 
dum  eum  dimittit,  prout  scilicet  non  impedit  quin  subdatur  alicui  tribulationi 
vel  etiam  quin  cadat  in  peccatum.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  113,  art.  6.) 

158.  Si  boni  spiritus  se  elongarent,  malorum  impetum  quis  sustineret?  (S. 
Bern.,  sur  le  Ps.  90.) 

159.  Unus  Angélus  magnam  putat  sibi  commissum  negotium  in  unius  animæ 


18 


APPENDIX. 


custodia  et  isti  sacerdotes  millia  animarum  in  suam  custodiam  suscipiunt.  (S. 
Thomas  de  Villeneuve,  sur  les  Anges.) 

160.  Egressus  Tobias  invenit  juvenum  splendidum,  stantem  præcinctum  et 
quasi  paratum  ad  ambulandum.  (Tobie,  c.  5,  v.  5.) 

160.  M<-  duxit  et  reduxit  sanum,  pecuniam  a  Gabelo  ipse  recepit,  uxorem  ipse 
me  habere  fecit,  et  dæmonium  ab  ea  ipse  compescuit,  gaudium  parentibus  ejus 
fecit,  meipsum  a  devoratione  piscis  eripuit,  te  quoque  videre  fecit  lumen  eœli  et 
bonis  omnibus  per  eum  repleti  sumus.  Quid  ad  hæe  poterimus  dignum  dare? 
(Tobie,  c.  12,  v.  3.) 

160.  Ego  sum  Raphael  Angélus,  unus  ex  septem  qui  adstamus  ante  Dominum... 
Tempus  est  ergo  ut  revertar  ad  eum  qui  me  misit.  Vos  autem  bénédicité  Deum 
et  narrate  omnia  mirabilia  ejus.  Et  cum  hæc  dixisset,  ab  aspectu  eorum  ablatus 
est  et  ultra  eum  videre  non  potuerunt.  (Tobie,  c.  12,  v.  15,  20,  21.) 

161.  In  viam  pacis  et  prosperitatis  dirigat  nos  omnipotens  et  misericors  Domi- 
nus:  et  Angélus  Raphael  comitetur  nobiscum  in  via  ut  cum  pace,  salute  et  gau- 
dio  revertamur  ad  propria.  ( ltinerarium  clericorum.) 

161.  La  flotte  envoyée  parle  roi  de  Portugal  Emmanuel,  et  conduite  par  Vasco 
de  Gama  en  1496.  ( Histoire  des  Indes ,  par  Maffei,  1.  1.) 

162.  Raphael  hebraice  dicitur  medicus  Dei  aut  medicina  et  curatio  Dei.  (S. 
Grég.,  Horn.  34.) 

162.  Angelum  nobis  medicus  salutis 
Mitte  de  cœlis  Raphael  ut  omues 
,  Sanet  ægrotos  pariterque  nostros 
Dirigat  actus. 

(Hymne  de  la  fête  de  saint  Raphaël.) 

163.  Tunc  Raphael  Angélus  apprehendit  dæmonium  et  resignavit  illud  in  de- 
serto  superioris  Ægypti.  (Tobie,  c.  8,  v.  3.) 

168.  La  Vie  de  sainte  Thérèse ,  écrite  par  elle-même,  c.  29. 

168.  Bollandistes. 

168.  Facite  vobis  cum  Angelis  amicitias. 

169.  Et  in  tempore  messis  dicam  messoribus  :  Colligite  primum  zizania  et  alli- 
gate  ea  in  fasciculos  ad  comburendum  ;  triticum  autem  congregate  in  horreum 
meum,  (S.  Matth.,  c.  13,  v.  30.) 

170.  Collectio  cinerum  et  eorum  præparatio  ad  reparationem  humani  corporis: 

ad  hoc  in  resurrectione  utetur  Deus  ministerio  Angelorum.  (S.  Thomas,  q.  78, 
art.  3.)  * 

170.  Anima,  sicut  immediate  a  Deo  creata  est,  ita  immediate  a  Deo  corpori  ite-  . 
rato  unietur,  sine  aliqua  operatione  Angelorum.  (S.  Thomas,  q.  78,  art.  3.) 

170.  Omnis  quicumque  confessus  fuerit  me  coram  hominibus,  et  Filius  hominis 
confitebitur  ilium  coram  Angelis  Dei  :  qui  autem  negaverit  me  coram  homini¬ 
bus,  negabitur  coram  Angelis  Dei.  (S.  Luc,  c.  12,  v.  8,  9.) 

170.  Et  statuet  oves  quidem  a  dextris  suis,  hædos  autem  a  sinistris.  (S.  Matth., 
c.  25,  v.  33.) 

171.  Sic  erit  in  consummatione  sæculi  :  exibunt  Angeli,  et  separabunt  malos 
de  medio  justorum.  (S.  Matth.,  c.  13,  v.  49.) 

172.  Tune  dicet  Rex  his  qui  a  dextens  ejus  erunt:  Venite,  benedicti  Patris 
mei,  possidete  paratum  vobis  regnum  a  constitutione  mundi...  Tune  dicet  his 


APPENDIX. 


19 


qui  a  sinistris  erunt:  Discedite  a  me,  maledicti,  in  ignem  æternum  qui  paratus 
est  diabolo  et  angelis  ejus.  (S.  Matthieu,  c.  25,  v.  34,  41.) 

172.  Inter  nos  et  vos  chaos  magnum  firmatum  est.  (S.  Luc,  c.  16,  v.  26.) 

173.  Justitia  divina  sanctis  assignavit  cœlum,  impiis  infernum,  pueris  in 
peccato  originali  decedentibus  terram.  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  sur  saint  Pierre,  Epit.  2, 
c.  3,  v.  13.) 

175.  Lesdus,  de  Attributis  divinis,  1. 13,  c.  23. — Longue  et  belle  thèse,  que  Cor¬ 
nelius  a  Lapide  résume  ainsi  :  “  Lessius  ex  sancto  Thoma,  Scoto,  Marsilio,  D. 
Soto,  aliisque  scholasticis,  docet  parvulos  posce  comparituros  in  judicio  univer- 
sali,  excepturos  pœnam  damni,  sed  perficieudos  in  intellectu,  voluntate,  aliisque 
naturæ  facultatibus,  ut  contenti  et  læti  in  omnem  æternitatem  concorditer  et 
amice  vivant,  ac  Deum  ament  et  laudent,  quod  se  a  peccato  actuali  et  gehenna 
præservarit,  tantisque  natu-ræ  donis  ornarit,  ut  rcs  creatas,  ac  præsertim  animæ 
suæ  excellentiam,  æque  ac  Angelorum  coutemplari  valeant,  indeque  <  reatorem 
admirari  et  glorificare;  alioqui  enim  essent  otiosi  per  omnem  æternitatem. 
Nec  enim  credendum  est  Deum  tot  milliones  animarum  velle  esse  semper  in  otio 
et  quasi  frustra  in  orbe.  Si  enim,  ut  passim  docent  doctores,  parvuli,  Deo  ita 
providente,  non  sentient  mœrorem  ob  amissionem  regni  cœlestis,  eo  quod  iilud 
saa  cwlpa  non  amiserint  :  cur  non  credamus  eos  in  commuai  totius  orbis  in- 
statwationepariterperficiendos  in  ordine  bonorunfnaturalium,  ut  Deum  cognos- 
cere,  amare  et  laudare  valeant,  itaque  vitam  quietam  et  jucundam  agant.  Hæc 
Lessius,  eaque  multis  rationibus  confirmât.” 

175.  Quis  locus  parvulis  hisce  aptior  erit  quam  terra?  Utpote  in  qua  solem, 
cœlos,  aAra,  mare,  cæteraque  cuncta  intueri  et  contemplari  poterunt  ex  iisque 
Deum  amare  et  laudare.  (Corn,  a  Lapide,  sur  saint  Pierre,  Epit.  2,  c.  3.) 

176.  Non  erunt  duæ  civitates  hominum  et  Angelorum,  sed  una.  (S.  Aug.,  Qitê 
1.  12,  c.  1.)  Utraque  erit  una  con»ortio  æternitatis.  (Id.,  Enchii idion,  c.  56.) 

176.  Bossuet,  Lettres. 

177.  An  aliqui  homines  futuri  sint  omnibus  Angelis  beatiores,  incertum  est, 
neque  cum  fuadamento  atfirmari  potest,  licet  neque  possit  etiam  cum  majori 
fundamento  negari.  (Suarez,  1. 1,  c.  14,  n.  19.) 

177.  Per  donum  gratiæ  homines  possunt  mereri  tantam  gloriam,  ut  Angelis 
æquentur,  secundum  singulos  Angelorum  gradus.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  108,  art.  8.) 
Homo  ex  terrena  vilitate  concretus,  dum  terrenam  labem  vincit,  dum  sanguinis 
stimulos  frangit,  dum  carnis  exuberat  passiones,  meritis  supergreditur  Angelos, 
non  natura.  (S.  Chrysologue,  Serm.  119.) 

177.  iv  ulti  sunt  inferiores  in  gloria  omnibus  Angelis,  ut  de  infantibus  mortuis 
in  gr&tia  manifestum  est.  Illi  ergo  dici  possunt,  vel  novum  ordinem  consti- 
tuere,  vel  infimo  ordini  Angelorum  aggregari.  (Suarez,  1.  1,  c.  14,  n.  19.) 

178.  Etsi  port  diem  judicii  homines  non  sint  ulterius  ad  salutem  adducendi 
per  ministerium  Angelorum,  tamen  illi  qui  jam  salutem  sunt  consecuti  aliquam 
illustrationem  habebunt  per  »  ngelorum  officia.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  108,  art.  8.) 

180.  Ubi  eras...  cum  me  laudarent  simul  astra  matutina  et  jubilarent  on'.nes 
Filii  Dei?  (Job,  c.  38,  v.  7.) 

181.  Creavit  in  cœlo  Angelos,  in  terra  vermiculos:  nec  major  in  illis,  nec 
minor  in  istis.  (S.  Aug.) 

181.  Gen.  c.  1. — Spectaculi  stupore  correpti,  ad  singula  quæ  fiebant  iteratia 
faustis  acclamationibus  conditorem  prosequebantur.  (S.  Basile  de  Séleueie.) 


20 


APPENDIX. 


181.  Viditque  Deus  cuncta  quæ  fecerat,  et  erant  valde  bona.  (Genèse,  c.  1, 
v.  31.) 

182.  Angeli  ipso  aspectu  obstupuerunt  cum  multitudiuem,  pulchritudinem, 
dispositionem,  utilitatem,  varietatem,  ornamentum,  splendorem,  concentum, 
cæteraque  omnia  quæ  multo  illi  quam  nos  melius  vident  intuerentur.  (S.  Chry- 
sostome.) 

183.  Philon,  de  Plantatione  Noe. 

184.  Per  Angelum  adjuvatur  homo  ut  ex  creaturis  perfectius  in  divinam  cog- 
nitionem  deveniat;  (S.  Thomas,  q.  Ill,  art.  1.) 

184.  Supercoelestis  spiritus,  sola  profecto  suæ  vicinitate  ac  vivacitate  naturæ, 
Bufficit  apprehendere  summa  et  intima  penetrare.  (S.  Bernard,  Serm.  5  in  Cant.) 

186.  Felix  qui  potuit  rerum  cognoscere  causas  ! 

(Virgile,  Gêorg.,  1.  2,  y.  490.) 

187.  Quantum  mea  refert  quid  calcem  ?  (Sènéque,  Consolât,  à  Albine,  c.  9.) 

188.  Deus  cum  prima  fundamenta  molis  pulcherrimæ  jaceret,  ut  omnia  sub 
ducibus  suis  irent,  quamvis  ipse  per  totum  corpus  intenderet,  tameu  ministros 
regni  sui  genuit.  (Seneca,  apud  Lactantium,  1.  1,  e.  4.) 

188.  Omnia  corporalia  reguntur  per  Angelos.  Et  hoc^non  solum  a  sanctis 
Doctoribus  ponitur,  sed  etiam  ab  omnibus  philosophis  qui  incorporeas  substan- 
tias  posuerunt.  (S.  Thomas,  1,  q.  110,  art.  1.) — Les  Pères  de  l’Eglise  sont  una¬ 
nimes,  comme  le  dit  saint  Thomas,  à  enseigner  que  Dieu  gouverne  le  monde, 
même  matériel,  par  le  ministère  des  Anges.  Saint  Justin,  Athénagore,  Théo- 
doret,  Clément  d’Alexandrie,  saint  Grégoire  de  Naziauze,  Origène,  Eusèbe  de 
Césarée,  saint  Jérôme,  saint  Augustin,  saint  Hilaire,  saint  Ambroise,  saint  Jean 
Cbrysostome,  saint  Cyrille,  saint  Grégoire  le  Grand....  tiennent  sur  ce  point  un 
langage  identique.  (Tbeologia  Claromontensis,  de  Angelis,  c.  4,  art.  4.) 

189.  Angeli  sunt  mundi  rectores,  elementorum  præsides,  cœlorum  motores,  et 
circa  corpora,  turn  cœlestia  turn  elementaria,  divinæ  Providentiæ  administri. 
(Vivien,  Angélus.) 

189-  “  Force  de  cohésion,  force  d’affinité,  force  d’attraction  :  mais  qu’est-ce 
qu’une  force?  Nous  n’en  savons  rien.”  (Arago,  Leçons  à  V Observatoire.)  Au¬ 
cun  des  grands  génies  dont  s’honore  la  science  n’a  prétendu  que  la  force,  cause 
du  mouvement  universel,  soit  une  propriété  des  corps  eux-mêmes  et  ne  puisse 
être  attribuée  à  un  principe  immatériel.  Entre  la  belle  thèse  des  saints  doc¬ 
teurs  et  les  données  de  la  science,  on  ne  saurait  voir  aucune  incompatibilité. 
Restât  igitur  ut  astrorum  moins  sit  voluntarius.  Quæ  qui  videat,  non  indocte  solum, 
verum  impie  facial,  si  Deos  esse  neget.  Cicéron,  de  Natura  deorum,  1.  2,  c.  16.) 

189.  Copernic. 

190.  Képler. 

190.  Newton. 

'  191.  “  Le  soleil  n’est  qu’une  planète  imperceptible  par  rapport  à  un  autre  so¬ 

leil  autour  duquel  il  tourne,  et  cet  autre  ^oleil  est  sans  doute  emporté  lui-même 
dans  l’espace,  sans  qu’on  puisse  assigner  un  centre  fixe  autour  duquel  toutes 
ces  révolutions  s’accomplissent.”  (Pouillet,  Physique  expérimentale  et  Météoro¬ 
logie.) 

191.  Kestat  ut  astrorum  motus  sit  voluntarius.  (Cicéron,  de  Natura  deorum.) 

192.  Quæ  cum  intuerer  stupens,  ut  me  recepi  :  “  Quid  hic,  inquaxn,  quis  est 


APPENDIX. 


21 


qui  complet  aures  meas  tantus  et  tam  dulcis  sonus?” — Hic  est,  inquit  ille,  qui 
intervallis  conjunctus  imparibus,  sed  tamen  pro  rata  portione,  distinctis,  im- 
pulsu  et  motu  ipsorum  orbium  conficitur;  qui  acuta  cum  gravibus  temperans, 
varios  æquabiliter  concentus  effieit  :  nec  enim  silentio  tanto  motus  incitari  pos- 
sunt...  Quod  docti  homines  nervis  imitati  atque  cantibus  aperuere  sibi  reditum 
in  hune  locum:  sicut  alii  qui  præstantibus  ingeniis  in  vita  humana  divina 
studia  coluerunt.  (Cicéron,  République ,  1.  6,  c.  il.) 

194.  Angeli  non  movent  cœlos  propter  eorum  conservationem,  sed  propter 
perpetuitatem  rerum  generabilium  per  continuam  generationum  successionem. 
(Suarez,  1.  6,  c.  19,  n.  10.) 

194.  Principio  cœlum  ac  terras  camposque  liquentes 
Lucentemque  globum  lunæ  titaniaque  astra 
Spiritus  intus  alit,  totamque  infusa  per  artus 
Mens  agitat  molem  et  magno  se  corpore  miscet. 

Inde  hominum  pecudumque  genus  vitæque  volantum, 

Et  quæ  marmoreo  fert  monstra  sub  æquore  pontus, 

Igneus  est  ollis  vigor  et  cœlestis  origo 
Seminibus. 

(Virgile,  Enéide ,  1.  6,  v.  724-732.) 

195.  Si  forte  Angelot  esse  oculos  vel  aures,  vel  manus,  vel  pedes  Dei  intelligere 
voluerimus,  habemus  non  improbabilis  intelligentiæ  auctoritatem.  (S.  Hilaire, 
sur  le  Ps.  129.) 

195.  Ordines  immateriales,  cum  materialibus  concinentes,  choream  ducunt  ; 
cœlestium  idem  ac  terrestrium  præcentor  in  eadem  æde  omnes  hodiemoderatur. 
(S.  Théodore  Studite,  sur  les  Chœurs  célestes. 

196.  Universi  pulchritudo,  velut  magnum  carmen  cujusdam  ineffabilis  modu- 
latoris.  (S.  Augustin,  Epist.  ad  Marcellinum ,  138.) 

196.  Non  cessât  nectacet  laudes  tuas  universi  creatura  tua;  nec  spiritus omnis 
hominis  per  os  conversum  ad  te,  nec  animalia,  nec  corporalia  per  os  consideran- 
tium  ea.  (S.  Aug.,  Confess.,  1.  5,  c.  2.)  Quid  est  mundus  ?  Est  lyra  suavem  edens 
divinæ  Providentiæ  concentum.  (S.  Aihanase,  contra  Idola.) 

197.  Spiritus  scientiam  habet  vocis.  (Sagesse,  c.  1,  v.  7.) 

198.  Divinis  laudibus  deditos.  (S.  Bern.,  de  la  Consid.,  1.  5,  c.  4.) 

198.  Et  omnem  creaturam  quæ  in  cœlo  est  et  super  terrain,  et  sub  terra,  et 
quæ  sunt  in  mari,  et  quæ  ineo:  omnes  audivi  dicentes  :  Sedenti  in  throno  et 
Agno,  benedictio  et  honor  et  gloria,  et  potestas  in  sæeula  sæeulorum.  (Apoc., 
c.  5,  v.  13. 

200.  Cum  Deum  contra  belligerare  non  valeat,  alia  via  pugnam  init,  dura  cre- 
aturas  contra  creatorem  succendit  ad  seditionem.  (Origène,  sur  Jérémie , 
Horn.  11.) 

201.  Et  quæ  illis  accuratior  pascua  est  quam  ut  hominem  a  recogitatu  veræ 
divinitatis  avertant  præstigiis  ialsæ  divinationis?  (Tertull.,  Apolog.,  22.) 

201.  Cœnuni  de  cœlo  fecistis.  (Tertull.,  Apolog.) 

202.  Res  clamat  Domino. — Potest  justa  consideratione  nobis  terra  dicere:  Non 
debeo  vos  sustinere  sed  potius  absorbere,  quoniam  a  crealore  meo  non  timuistis 
peccando  recedere  et  inimieo  ejus  diabolo  serv  re  et  adhærere.  Potest  etiam 
cibus  dieere  et  potus:  Non  meruistis  ut  vos  pascere  debeamus,  imo  potius  ut 


22 


APPENDIX. 


corifusionem  et  necem  vobis  præparemus:*ab  illo  enim  peccando  recessistis,  per 
quem  nee  ales  esurit.  Sol  quoque  :  Yobis  ad  salutem  non  debeo  lucere,  sed  ad 
vindictam  Domini  mei  qui  est  lux  lucis  et  fons  luminis,  penitus  coercere.  Sic 
et  singulæ  quoque  creaturæ  contra  nos  possunt  surgere  irrefragabili  ratione.  (S. 
Anselme,  des  Similitudes,  c.  101.) 

202.  Scimus  quod  omnis  creatura  ingemiscit  et  parturit  usque  adbuc.  (Rom., 
c.  8,  t.  22.)  Pulchra  Apostoli  prosopopeia  !  Omnes  creaturæ  inanimés  anxie  et 
magno  cum  dolore  Dnem  malorum  expectant.  Si  haberent  sensum  gemerent 
quasi  parturientes,  idque  ab  exordio  mundi  et  lapsus  bominis  usque  nunc.  (S. 
Chrysostome.) 

203.  Hæc  est  hora  vestra  et  potestas  tenebrarum.  (S.  Luc,  c.  22,  v.  33.) 

207.  Hic  est  igitur,  secundum  David,  currus  Dei  :  currus,  inquit,  Lei  decies 
multiplicatus.  Mundum  enim  istum  currum  Dei  cum  omnibus  et  ipsi  Angeli 
ducunt.  (Tertull.,  de  Trinitate,  8,  sub  nomine  Novatiani.) 

209.  Ilia  mundi  purgatio  removebit  a  mundo  infectionem  ex  culpa  relictam, 
et  impuritatem  commixtionis,  et  erit  dispositio  ad  gloriæ  perfection em  :  et  ideo, 
quantum  ad  hæc  tria  convenientissime  fiet  per  ignem.  (S.  Thomas,  Supplem., 
q.  76,  art.  2.) 

209.  Cœlestia  corpora  nec  per  ignem,  nec  per  alicujus  creaturæ  actionem  pur- 

gabuntur.  (S.  Thomas,  Supplem.,  q.  76,  art.  4.)  V 

210.  In  reos  læsæ  éivinitatis  omnis  creatura  vindex  est..  (Vivien,  Angelus.) 

210  Quia  ergo  omnia  consummaDda  sunt,  ante  consummationem  omnia  per- 

turbantur;  et  quia  in  ciuictis  deliquimus,  in  cunctis  ferimur,  ut  impleatur  quod 
dieitnr:  Et  pugnabit  pro  eo  orbis  terrarum  contra  insensatos.  Omnia  namque 
quæ  ad  usum  vitæ  accepimus,  ad  usum  convertimus  culpæ,  sed  cuneta  quæ  ad 
usum  pravitatis  infleximus,  ad  usum  nobis  vertu ntur  ultionis...  Jure  ergo  restât 
ut  simul  nos  omnia  f  riant  quæ  simul  omnia  vitiis  nostris  male  subacta  servie- 
bant,  ut  quot  prius  in  mundo  incolumes  habuimus  gaudia,  tot  de  ip^o  post  mo- 
dum  cogamur  sentira  tormenta.  (S.  Grégoire  le  Grand,  Horn.  35.) 

213.  Ecce  ego  creo  cœlos  novos  et  terram  novam.  (Isaïe,  c.  65,  v.  17.)  Vidi 
ccelum  novum  et  novam  terram.  (Apoc.,  c.  21,  v.  1.)  Novos  vero  cœlos  et  novam 
terram,  secundum  promissa  ipsius  expectamus.  S.  Pierre,  Epit.  2,  c.  3,  v.  13.) 
Cœlum  et  terra  per  earn  quam  nunc  habent  imaginem  transeunt,  sed  tamen  per 
essentiam  sine  fine  subsistunt.  (S.  Grég.  le  Grand,  Morales,  1.  17,  c.  3.)  Figura 
enim  mundi  ideo  transivit,  non  substantia.  (S.  Aug.,  de  Ecclesiœ  dogma/ibus.) 

214.  Simpliciter  dicendum  est  quod  nihil  omnino  in  nihilum  redigetur,  (8. 
Thomas,  q.  104,  art.  4.) 

214.  Sicut  enim  nutrix  pueri  regii  cum  puer  coronatur  et  ipsa  propter  ipsum, 
de  bonis  regiis  participât,  ita  pariter  cum  homo  gloria  donabitur,  hanc  ejus  glo- 
riam  cæteræ  creaturæ  quæ  homini  servierunt  participabunt.  (S.  Chrysost.,  de 
Jejuniis  et  Genes'is  leclione.) 

215.  Ut  cum  sanctis  quibus  servivit,  quasi  glorificetur  eorumque  oculos  men- 
tesque  oblectet.  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  sur  la  2e  Epit.  de  saint  Pierre ,  c.  3.) 

215.  Omnia  elementa  claritate  quadam  vesiientur,  non  tamen  æqualitcr,  sed 
secundum  suum  modum.  Terra  enim  erit  superficie  exteriori  pervia,  sicut  vi- 
trum,  aqua  sicut  cristallus,  aer  ut  cœlum,  ignis  ut  luminaria  cceli.  (S.  Thomas, 
Supplem.,  q.  91,  art.  4.) 


APPENDIX.  23 

215.  Terra  quæ  in  gremio  suo  corpus  Domini  confovit,  tota  erit  ut  paradisus, 
et  quia  sanctorem  sanguine  est  irrigata,  odoriferis  floribus,  rosis,  violis  imraar- 
cescibiliter  erit  perpetuo  decorata.  (S.  Anselme,  in  Elucidario.)  Guillelmus 
parisiensis  asserit  viros  sapientissimos  censere  quod  post  diem  judicii  et  confla- 
grationem  mundi,  terra  rursum  floribus,  gemmis,  arboriDus,  rontibus  aliisque 
similibus  ornamentis  sit  vestienda,  turn  ad  ejus  mundique  decorem,  turn  ad 
sanctorum  oblectationem,  turn  ad  parvulorum  sine  baptismo  defunctorum  qui 
in  ea  degent  recreationem.  (Corn,  a  Lap.,  sur  la  2°  Epît.  de  saint  Pierre ,  c.  3.) 

216.  Caro  spiritualis  effecta  per  omnes  sensus  suos  multimodis  exsuperabit  de- 
liciis.  (S.  Laurent.  Just,  de  Disctplin.,  1.  23.) 

216.  Creatura  liberabitur  a  servitutecorruptionis  in  libertatem  gloriæ  filiorum 
Dei.  (S.  Paul,  Epît.  aux  Rom.,  c.  8,  v.  21.) 


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